
Copyright^°_ 



COPYRIGHT 






LIFE OF 
W 1 1, HAM P E N N 

BY 

GEORGE E. ELLIS 



MAKERS OF 
AMERICAN 
H ISTORY 

WILLIAM PENN 

BY 

GEORGE E. ELLIS 

JAMES OGLETHORPE 

BY 

WILLIAM B. O. PEABODY 



THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY 

INCORPORATED 

NEW YORK 1904 






THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
One Copy RECEfvED 

DEC, 3 1904 

CLASS <*>XXo. No 

oopv a. 



Copyright, 1904 

BY 

The University Society, Inc. 



PREFACE 



The materials for a biography of William Penn, 
as a distinguished member of the Society of Friends, 
and as the Founder of Pennsylvania, are abundant. 
For the most par^,they have been faithfully used. 
Joseph Besse, who made the first collection of his 
numerous writings, prefixed to them a sketch of his 
life, with an appendix, made up of many of his prin- 
cipal religious letters. The French work, by Mar- 
sillac, (" Vie de Guillaume Penn," IJ92, 8vo., two 
volumes in one,) is a compilation judiciously made, 
and contains some Pennsylvania documents. The 
magazines, encyclopedias, and biographical diction- 
aries, add some valuable materials, as do also several 
of the journals and letters of leading Quakers, con- 
temporary with Penn. Clarkson had access to the 
family papers in possession of Penn's grandson in 
England, and his volumes, written with all the wis- 
dom and candor of the author, contain but a very few 
inaccuracies. Ebeling's " History of Pennsylvania " 
affords, in its early chapters, translated by Peter S. 
Duponceau, and printed in Hazard's " Register of 
Pennsylvania," in the main, a just view of the 
Proprietor. 

On this side of the water, William Penn has 
found, among our own historians and antiquarians, 



Viii PREFACE 

faithful guardians of his memory, and devoted ap- 
provers of his whole course through life. Proud' s 
" History of Pennsylvania," the least recommenda- 
tion of which is its style, is careful and accurate. 
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has been 
most assiduous in collecting every document and fact 
relating to William Penn, and its labors have been 
eminently successful. The letters and papers with 
which its seven half volumes, already published, are 
enriched, are of the highest value. While all its 
members have engaged zealously in this work, two 
of them, J. Francis Fisher and John F. Watson, de- 
serve especial mention, for their careful researches 
and rich contributions. A well written and accurate 
sketch of Penn's life, chiefly confined, however, to 
his religious labors, with large extracts from his 
writings, by Enoch Lewis, is given in " The Friends' 
Library," Vol. V. (Philadelphia, 1841.) Other 
sources of information are referred to in the notes. 



WILLIAM PENN 



CHAPTER I 



Ancestry of William Penn. — Admiral Sir William Penn. — His 
public Services. — The Mother of William Penn. — Family. 

William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, 
was descended from a family distinguished for char- 
acter as well as for social standing-. His ancestors, 
five centuries ago, dwelt at the village of Penn, in 
Buckinghamshire, and gave their name to several 
localities in the neighborhood. From a branch of 
the family, residing at Penn's Lodge, near Myntie, 
in Gloucestershire, descended Giles Penn, a captain 
in the royal navy, and English Consul in the Medi- 
terranean. George, his eldest son, was a merchant 
in Spain, where he was cruelly imprisoned by the 
Inquisition for three years.* 

William, the second son of Giles, and the father of 
the proprietary of Pennsylvania, was born in 1621. 
He adopted the profession of his father, and earned 
many high distinctions, besides that of having for 
his son the Quaker legislator. His monument, in the 

* See his petition for redress to Cromwell ; also the petition of 
his nephew, our subject, to Queen Anne, 1712, 1713, given in 
Granville Penn's " Memorials of Admiral Penn," Vol. I. 
Appendix. 

9 



10 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Church of St. Mary Redcliffe, at Bristol, records 
that he " was made captain at the year of twenty- 
one, rear-admiral of Ireland at twenty-three, vice- 
admiral of Ireland at twenty-five, admiral to the 
Straits at twenty-nine, vice-admiral of England at 
thirty-one, and general in the first Dutch war at 
thirty-two; whence returning, anno 1655, he was 
parliamentary representative for the town of Wey- 
mouth; 1660, made commissioner of the admiralty 
and navy, governor of the town and fort of Kingsale, 
vice-admiral of Munster, and a member of that pro- 
vincial council; and anno 1664, was chosen great 
captain commander, under his Royal Highness, in 
that signal and most evidently successful fight 
against the Dutch fleet." He died in his fiftieth year. 
The thorough manner in which this naval officer 
performed his first service of suppressing the Irish 
rebellion, seems to have won for him his successive 
promotions. He commanded the sea forces in the 
expedition designed by Cromwell against Hispaniola, 
the ill-success of which is said not to rest with the 
Admiral, but with Colonel Venables, who com- 
manded the land forces. In his journal * of this ex- 
pedition we find mention of the death of our own 
Winslow, of Plymouth colony. During the Com- 
monwealth, the services of Admiral Penn were nu- 
merous, and well rewarded, though he did not escape 
the jealousies incident then, as now, to envied places 
and divided responsibilities. His circumstances, like 
those of many moderate men, and especially those in 
the naval service who labored for the common in- 
* In Granville Penn's (t Memorials " of him. 



WILLIAM PENN II 

terest of both parties in the State, enabled him to 
avoid identifying himself or his fortunes with the 
doomed republican cause. He forestalled some 
favor at the Restoration, without being indebted for 
it to any treacherous meanness to individuals, or to 
the interests which he had espoused. Of very few 
public men, at that time, could it be said, that they 
transferred their titles and offices from a republican 
to a royal tenure without breach of faith or honor. 
Soldiers on land had been engaged in civil warfare, 
and the strife in the pulpits had committed their oc- 
cupants, if they were sincere, to a rising or a sinking 
party; but those who fought upon the seas, though 
holding commissions from the Parliament, were 
rallied by the cry of England. 

After the Restoration, Admiral Penn commanded 
in 1665, under the Duke of York, in the terrible sea- 
fight with the Dutch, for which he won honor and 
knighthood, and attained to court privileges of ac- 
quaintance and influence. It was from the unpaid 
debts due to him for his public services, and from 
obligations contracted to him, that his distinguished 
son afterwards received such patronage, and ad- 
vanced the claim, which was scarcely discharged by 
the bestowal of lands in the New World. The ad- 
miral was likewise the author of several small tracts 
and other works for improving the naval service, 
which had a value in their day, and perhaps cost 
more labor and experience than those which have 
been written since. He was patriotic, simple hearted, 
pure, and truly religious, as a Protestant of the 
Church of England. His family pride, increased by 



12 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the additions which he himself had made to its dis- 
tinctions, was sorely offended, as we shall see, by 
the religious profession adopted by his son, though 
the offence yielded to admiration of that son's 
sincerity. 

The relations between the English and the Dutch, 
at that time, were not wholly hostile. Indeed, the 
family histories of that era disclose a remarkable 
number of intermarriages, when the ships of the two 
nations were contending for the dominion of the 
seas. The Admiral married Margaret, daughter of 
John Jasper, a merchant of Rotterdam. She was a 
noble woman, religious, indulgent, yet judicious. 
Her son was largely indebted to her maternal faith- 
fulness for his early character, and her kindness and 
respect sustained him, when the first anger of the 
father, in finding that he had a Quaker for a son, 
turned him out of doors before he had attained to 
manhood. 

A journal kept by the Admiral begins with his 
sailing from Deptford, Saturday, October 12th, 
1644, two days before the birth of William. The 
frequent absences from home, which the naval ser- 
vice required of him, must have deprived him of 
much parental oversight of the early years of his 
son. When that son was engaged in the warm con- 
troversies of his new profession, he appeared as the 
vindicator of his father from unjust aspersions upon 
his courage and integrity, cast upon him after his 
death. An anonymous reviewer of the account, 
which the young Quaker published of his own trial, 
had made use of the occasion to cast these reflections 



WILLIAM PENN 1 3 

upon the Admiral. The son was ready to reply, and 
he devoted a portion of his rejoinder to vindicate 
his father's honesty and spirit. " Not that I would 
be thought to justify wars." he says; " I know they 
arise from lusts." But this does not hinder that he 
should state matters of fact.* 

The Admiral had a second son, Richard Penn, who 
survived him about three years, dying in April, 1673 ; 
also one daughter, Margaret Penn, who married An- 
thony Lowther, of Mask, Yorkshire, and died in 
1 68 1 -2; her branch of the family became extinct in 
the fourth generation. 

*" Truth rescued from Imposture." &c. Part III. "A 
Vindication of my deceased Father's Reputation from the 
False and Unworthy Reflections of this Scandalous Libeller." 
Penn's "Works," 2 vols. fol. Vol. I. p. 496. 



CHAPTER II 

Birth and Education of William Penn. — His Early Religious 
Impressions. — Enters Christ's Church, Oxford. — The Influ- 
ence of Thomas Loe over him. — Is fined for Nonconformity. 
— Is expelled from the University. — The Anger of his Father. 
— Is turned out of Doors. — The Spirit of William. — Is sent 
to travel in France. — Studies at Saumur. — Is recalled. — 
Enters Lincoln's Inn. — Leaves London on Account of the 
Plague. 

The proprietary of the province of Pennsylvania 
was born in St. Catharine's Parish, Tower Hill, Lon- 
don, October 14th, 1644. The country residence of 
his parents being then at Wanstead, he was sent to 
the free grammar school at Chigwell, Essex, which 
had been recently founded by Harsnett, Archbishop 
of York. His first and strongest religious impres- 
sions are ascribed to his boyhood in this school. 
While he was but eleven years of age, he was the 
subject of those deep exercises of spirit, which, in 
the language of the time, are represented almost as 
miraculous. Alone in his chamber, an external 
brightness around him seemed to answer to a 
mysterious motion within ; and thus early was con- 
firmed to him the great fundamental principle of his 
subsequent faith, that there is an inward light in 
man, which attests the capacity of his soul for hold- 
ing immediate intercourse with God. He regarded 

14 



WILLIAM PENN 1$ 

himself as called, by this experience, to a consecra- 
tion of heart and life to the service of his Maker. 

He was removed from Chigwell at the age of 
twelve, that he might be near his father's town resi- 
dence, and enjoy more advantages of education in a 
private school, on Tower Hill, and in the help of a 
private tutor at home. Great pains seem to have 
been bestowed upon him, and not in vain ; for he was 
a ready scholar, and his subsequent writings give 
proof of an accurate attainment in elementary prin- 
ciples, and of a wide extent of mental discipline. 
His healthful frame and bodily strength, in maturer 
years, were evidence, however, that he was not shel-* 
tered in tender seclusion, but engaged in those usual 
sports and amusements which are the best education 
of the body. 

William Penn was entered as a gentleman com- 
moner, at Christ Church College, Oxford, at the age 
of fifteen. Amid many close friendships which he 
formed here, based upon moral and intellectual affini- 
ties, he numbered among his companions John Locke, 
to whom he offered service at the time of his expa- 
triation in Holland. A specimen of young Penn's 
scholarship, at this time, is preserved in a brief Latin 
elegy, which was published in 1660, in a volume em- 
bracing several similar pieces, written by members 
of Oxford University, on the lamented decease of 
the Duke of Gloucester, second brother of Charles 
the Second. 

The early religious impressions of the young stu- 
dent, which had not been effaced, were renewed and 
deepened, at this time, by the exhortations of 



l6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Thomas Loe. The numerous Quaker historians and 
writers, contemporaneous with this period, make fre- 
quent mention of the labors and imprisonments of 
this famous lay preacher, to whom Penn attributed 
his own conversion to their principles. Having once 
belonged to the university, which he left for the sake 
of his new profession, he occasionally visited it, in 
his itinerary ministry, and succeeded in gaining the 
devout attention of several of its students, while, as a 
matter of course, he was ridiculed and harassed by 
others. Of Penn, as of many other founders and 
prominent disciples of great sects, we may advance 
the paradoxical sentence, that he had already re- 
ceived, of his own instinctive tendencies, the views 
which he apparently embraced from the teaching of 
another. He was in fact a Quaker, before he became 
one by conscious or professed adhesion to Quaker 
principles. The doctrines, which that eminently 
Christian society advocated, were but a published 
index of the contents of many devout hearts and 
struggling minds. Penn at once responded to the 
earnest appeals of Thomas Loe, and, with a small 
band of his college companions, he forsook the ritual 
services, which the restored monarch had set up, for 
more congenial worship of their own, in their private 
apartments. All who were concerned in this grave 
offence were discovered, and, not denying the charge, 
or foregoing the practice, were fined for noncon- 
formity. Though the fine was paid, it did not ab- 
solve wounded consciences. Penn and his compan- 
ions proceeded to imitate an example, which older 
men had but lately set, and to insult the forms which 



WILLIAM PENN 1 7 

they could not respect. The King had ordered that 
the students should resume their claim to their an- 
cient title of gownsmen, and should never appear 
without their surplices. This Popish and formal 
costume, so at war, as the young converts of a simple 
and unadorned faith esteemed it to be, with true 
spirituality, excited their zeal, and they fell upon 
students who were thus habited in public, and tore 
from them their robes. For this outrage, the offend- 
ers were at once expelled from the university. 

William Penn, the father, then a commissioner of 
the Admiralty, was enjoying his court privileges and 
his fashionable acquaintances at London, cherishing, 
all the while, hopes of high distinction for his heir; 
when that heir returned home, announcing his dis- 
grace, and more than all, and worse than all, speak- 
ing and appearing with the solemn seriousness of 
those devout persons, whom the naval officer re- 
garded as canting hypocrites or moon-struck fools. 
The offending son had but a cold reception. In vain 
did his father expostulate and argue with him upon 
his affectation of religious scruples, and the barrier 
which they w r ould oppose to his worldly success. 
Passing from words to the weightier discipline, 
which he had practiced on shipboard, he proceeded to 
beat his son, and, failing to subdue his spirit, at once 
forbade him the house, and drove him from it in a 
fit of sudden passion. The intercessions of his wife, 
and the relentings of his own bosom, temporarily ap- 
peased his anger, and his son was restored to his 
home. 

It must have required no small measure of moral 

A. B., VOL. IV.— 2 



1 8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

courage, in a youth then in his eighteenth year, thus 
to forego the attractions of social life, which opened 
to him, and resolutely to thwart the earnest wishes of 
an honored parent. But something more deep and 
high than worldly prudence influenced the mind of 
the son. The religious spirit, which in his later years 
assumed a most calm and rational tone, was now un- 
naturally excited. Like the other eminent founders 
of his religious connection, he believed in immediate 
and miraculous communications made to his own 
mind, in a way which admitted of their being defined, 
expressed, and regarded as demonstrative of duty 
and prophetic of the future. In one of his many 
letters to his friend Robert Turner, then in Dublin, 
in 1 68 1, when he was the proprietary of Pennsylva- 
nia, Penn makes this mysterious reference : " This 
I can say, that I had an opening of joy, as to these 
parts, in the year 1661, at Oxford." * With such a 
revelation waiting to be realized, he might well re- 
nounce the worldly views which his father proposed 
to him. 

His father determined on a measure, which has 
generally been found to have proved itself very ef- 
fectual, not only in eradicating gravity and serious- 
ness, but in implanting most opposite tendencies. He 
sent his son to France, in company with some per- 
sons of rank, in 1662, in order that he might be sub- 
jected to the accomplishments and gayety, which 
travel and residence there would be most likely to 
recommend. Of his stay in Paris he afterwards 

* " Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," 
Vol. I. p. 203. 



WILLIAM PENN 1 9 

records one single incident, which vindicates his 
claim to be alike a gentleman of honor and a Chris- 
tian. He was attacked in the street, one evening, by 
a person who was affronted because his salutation of 
raising the hat, which Penn says he did not see, was 
not returned. Our young traveller, lacking three 
years of manhood, (whether armed or not, he does 
not tell us,) immediately stood to the combat with 
his antagonist, and disarmed him. So far, the by- 
standers beheld a scene which Paris afforded daily; 
but when the victor had the life of his antagonist in 
his power, and might, without harm from police or 
law, have run him through, he was satisfied with 
returning to him his sword, and the true salutation 
of Christian forbearance. 

Of course such a one as Penn took no pleasure in 
the dissipation of Paris; but the opportunities of 
wise observation would not be lost upon him.* He 
soon left the capital, to reside for some months at 
Saumur, to enjoy the instruction of the famous Cal- 
vinistic divine and professor, Moses Amyrault, the 
friend of Cardinal Richelieu, to whom that prelate 
imparted his bold design for uniting the Roman and 
Protestant churches. With this learned theologian, 
William Penn renewed the studies, which had been 
summarily closed at Oxford, becoming a thorough 

* It was while on this visit to France, that Penn became 
acquainted with the Earl of Sunderland, whom he afterwards 
found a serviceable friend. The fact is expressly stated by 
Penn, in a letter written to Sunderland, in 1683. See " Me- 
moirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. II. 
Part I. p. 244. This statement, of course, negatives a story in 
the biographies of Penn, that the Earl, as Robert Spencer, had 
been one of his fellow-nonconformists at Oxford. 



20 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

proficient in the French language, which greatly 
facilitated his extensive missionary labors on the 
Continent some years afterwards, and reading the 
fathers, and other standard works of theology, the 
good use of which appears in his numerous writings, 
He had reached Turin, on an intended tour through 
Italy, when he was recalled to the care of the family 
at home, by a letter from his father, announcing his 
necessary absence to take command of the fleet 
against the Dutch. He returned to England in 1664. 
When Penn was afterwards on trial for the of- 
fence of illegal preaching, he was taunted by his 
judge with having been guilty of common youthful 
levities and immoralities, and his strictness of man- 
ners was represented as only a revulsion from former 
dissipation. Reference was supposed to be made to 
his life when abroad. Penn repelled the charge with 
the indignation of a calm but most resolute denial, 
and challenged any one to bear witness to any de- 
parture on his part from the strictest morality. His 
accuser probably spoke from his own experience of 
himself. It is certain that Penn's challenge, uttered 
by a pure conscience, was received in silence. He 
had acquired abroad more liveliness of manners, with 
something of the polish and courtesy of his foreign 
companions ; and his father was barely satisfied with 
these attainments, though attended by no loss of 
seriousness.* 

* Pepys, who was officially connected and very intimate with 
the Admiral and his family, enters in his Diary, under date of 
August 26th, 1664, " Mr. Penn, Sir William's son, is come 
back from France, and come to visit my wife; a most modish 
person, grown, she says, a fine gentleman." Vol. II. p. 214. 



WILLIAM PENN 2 1 

In compliance with the wishes of his father, Penn 
entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn, that he might 
acquaint himself with the laws of his country, and 
with more knowledge of the world. His residence 
here was cut short, in about a year, by the Great 
Plague, which induced him to leave London, in 1665, 
just as he became of age. The horrors of that 
calamity must have added yet more seriousness to 
his mind. Whatever knowledge of law he had ac- 
quired was destined to be of real use to him, when 
he became the legislator of a colony in the New 
World. 

The portrait of him, painted about this time, presents a hand- 
some young man with flowing locks, but by no means of a 
fashionable or gay appearance, though clad in armor. 



CHAPTER III 

Perm's and Barclay's Services to the Quakers. — Rise and 
Origin of the People called Quakers. — State of the Times. — 
Religious Novelties. — Wandering Preachers. — George Fox. 
— Excesses of the early Quakers. — Their Virtues and En- 
durance. — Principles of the Society. 

William Penn and Robert Barclay are the 
names of the two most eminent members of the 
Society of Friends. They may be entitled to an 
equal measure of pure and desirable fame, the former 
as the practical, the latter as the theoretical, cham- 
pion of their principles. But if services are to be 
weighed and measured by actual sum and cost, Penn, 
both in the labors of his life and of his pen, will re- 
ceive the higher estimate. Barclay's father approved 
and favored the devotion of his son to a despised 
sect; but Penn, as we have seen, found his first foe 
in his best friend. Through the whole of his subse- 
quent life, his principles cost him a large amount of 
suffering of body and of mind ; a loss of friends, and 
honors, and property; a subjection to insults and re- 
proaches. They weighed with such a burden of care 
upon his active career, and were attended with such 
a disappointment of his most cherished wishes at 
his death, that we pronounce upon him the highest 
but well-deserved encomium in saying, that, had he 

22 



WILLIAM PENN 23 

foreseen the course and issue of his life, he would 
not have shrunk from it. 

Some brief account of the origin and principles of 
the Society of which he was so eminent a member 
will properly introduce his own connection with it at 
an early period of his life. 

The word Quaker will be freely used in this narra- 
tive, and it need scarcely be said by the writer that 
he intends no offence in thus continuing the use of 
an epithet, which was first applied in scorn. The 
distinguished virtues which have been associated 
with it have made it honorable. Indeed, Penn, and 
other members of the Society, used the term in their 
public writings, and felt no unwillingness to be des- 
ignated by it, while ridicule and contempt were still 
associated with it. The epithet has passed through 
a transmutation like to that which has altered the 
popular use of the word Christian from the significa- 
tion which it once had. 

The Quakers, originally called, by themselves and 
by others, Professors, Children of the Light, and 
Friends, did more, at the period of their origin, to 
revive and impress anew the great vital principles of 
Christianity, than any other sect before or since their 
time has done. The active life of Penn extended 
through the most interesting portion of the history 
of the Society. The age which produced the sect ex- 
hibited a most remarkable and intensely agitated 
state of thought and feeling. Even science, natural 
and physical, as well as intellectual, felt the impulse 
of that general renewal, which seemed then to be 
working upon the spirits of men. The foundation 



24 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

of the Royal Society dates from the period, which in 
England was most fruitful in the production of in- 
numerable religious sects. 

The most appropriate motto for all the histories of 
the time might be given in the words of Baxter. " I 
know you may meet with men, who will confidently 
affirm, that in these times all religion was trodden 
under foot, and that heresy and schism were the only 
piety. But I give warning to all ages, that they take 
heed how they believe any, while they are speaking 
for the interest of their factions and opinions, against 
their real or supposed adversaries." It would have 
been well if Baxter himself had followed this wise 
rule, for this good and honored man was not wholly 
free from the spirit of bitterness. He says that the 
sect of Quakers was the last resource taken to by 
the Jesuits and the devil, when they found that the 
Seekers and Ranters would no longer serve their 
turn. He fell into the common opinion that the 
Quakers, and all other troublesome folk in those 
times, were disguised Papists, Jesuits, or Francis- 
cans. The Puritan party adhered faithfully to their 
belief that Popery was the very " mystery of in- 
iquity." Penn suffered more under the suspicion of 
being a Jesuit than for his confession that he was a 
Quaker. Bunyan, one of the eminent spirits of that 
period, feared that the age would be characterized by 
posterity, " as one which talked of religion most, and 
loved it least." The strange sects then abounding 
are ludicrously described by Edwards, Vicars, Pa- 
gitt, and Featley. A writer, who seems to have 
caught their living features, thus contrasts the spirit 



WILLIAM PENN 2$ 

of the two parties throughout the Stuart dynasty, by 
presenting " the stern and unyielding exercise of 
power, as operating upon the stubbornness of con- 
scientious dissent." Sir John Reresby, whose Me- 
moirs give us so much of the gossip of the courts of 
the second Charles and James, says, " I left England 
at that unhappy time, (1654,) when honesty was 
reputed a crime, religion superstition, loyalty trea- 
son; when subjects were governors, servants mas- 
ters, and no gentleman was assured of anything he 
possessed." 

Intestine troubles, enthusiasm, and religious dis- 
sensions had prepared the minds of the people to re- 
ceive any extravagance of doctrine. As Sewel, the 
Quaker historian, honestly says, there were an 
abundance of people in England, who, having 
searched all sects, could nowhere find satisfaction 
for their hungry souls. Many, who then professed 
to be seekers after truth themselves, took upon them 
the task of being teachers of it to others. A sincere 
and zealous wanderer from village to village, though 
he may be untaught, will ever gain more converts 
among the mass of men than a refined and scholar- 
like preacher. From materials already engendered 
were wrought out those wild and enthusiastic dog- 
mas, all pervaded by a religious spirit, which blazed 
so fiercely at the time of the Commonwealth. The 
Puritan preachers, who had been excluded from the 
pulpits, found refuge in private families as tutors, or 
were received as religious counsellors by social cir- 
cles. The Bible, but recently put within the reach 
of the common people, had been diligently perused, 



26 American biography 

and each reader had undertaken to interpret it for 
himself. The spirit of humanity and of liberty was 
then at work ; the bright light, which was suddenly 
poured upon the mass of men, blinded the eyes, and 
confused the understandings of some of them. 

Then were opened deep questions of the design of 
government and of religion, and men were made 
sensible of the oppression of preceding times, which 
had insisted on dead ordinances, and had denied the 
supplies which the mind and the heart craved. 
Amid the wild and fanatical spirits of the parlia- 
mentary army, it was but natural that the working 
of these elements should produce confusion; for the 
law of their just operation, and the proper guidance 
of them in safe channels, could not come with the 
first bright perception of those ultimate truths which 
had been attained. The army was composed of men 
who had long been discontented, and who were now 
taken from accustomed occupations of body and of 
mind, and were destitute of regular employment. It 
must of course have embraced many individuals who 
were ripe for any extravagance. Officers and pri- 
vates were accustomed to pray and expound the 
Scriptures from pulpits and from the field. Many 
of the most enthusiastic preachers among the early 
Quakers, such as Hubberthorn, Ames, Dewsbury, 
Naylor, and Lilburne, had been in the army. 

The Quakers were not, strictly speaking, an origi- 
nal sect, as their views and principles were selected, 
refined, and harmonized from a large and confused 
mass of opinions about religion, politics, society, and 
morals, which then prevailed over the northern and 



WILLIAM PENN 2? 

central portions of England. The Familists, Antino- 
mians, Seekers, and Ranters had successively pre- 
sented to public view the phenomena, which at first 
drew attention to the new sect, whose members trem- 
bled or quaked at the word of the Lord. George Fox 
encountered many persons, who without any inter- 
course with each other, had singly come to the same 
conclusions, and, after hearing him, " found them- 
selves in unison with him." Indeed, the noblest testi- 
mony which can be offered in behalf of any specula- 
tive principles and practical rules of virtue, the high- 
est signature of truth which such principles and rules 
could receive, is that which from the first attached 
to Quakerism; for many earnest and serious minds 
had attained its conclusions by their own struggles, 
and found that the joy of mutual fellowship was the 
partnership in precious truth. 

The pages of Edwards' " Gangrsena," and of Pa- 
gitt's " Heresiography," afford plain evidence that 
each novel opinion, each vagary of conduct, each 
extravagance and eccentricity, as well as each great 
fundamental and living truth, which entered into the 
received customs and tenets of the Society of 
Friends, had found an advocate and example before 
George Fox gave out his testimony. We find that 
" the offence of the hat," the objection to flattering 
titles and ornaments of dress, to sports and profane 
customs, to " a hireling ministry," and to oaths, to 
war and persecution, had already designated single 
or compound heresies all over the kingdom, while the 
interruption of public worship, for the sake of speak- 
ing according to the witness of " the inner light," 



28 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

was a familiar misdemeanor, punishable with a pen- 
alty at common law. The Friends were in fact ec- 
lectics. They adopted what they could approve of 
the fruits of one and the same Spirit, which then 
worked in the minds of men. 

Yet, while the principles of the Quakers are thus 
traced to the conflicts of many minds gathering their 
discoveries of great truths for many years, it is not 
necessary to question the general fame which at- 
tributes to George Fox and William Penn the en- 
viable distinction of being the founders of the So- 
ciety of Friends. They are two of the most attrac- 
tive and inspiring characters of all Christian history. 
There is something in the narrative of Fox's life 
which kindles the very soul of the sympathizing 
reader. In no individual, grown to man's estate, did 
infantile innocence, with all its simple graces, ever 
unite with such profound spiritual apprehension, and 
such unswerving self-consecration, as in him.* He 
was born twenty years before Penn, having a mother 
from the stock of the martyrs, and a father who was 
known by his neighbors as " Righteous Christer," or 
Christopher. Unusual gravity, staidness, and tem- 
perance, characterized him from a child. He was 

* Sir James Mackintosh describes Fox's " Journal " as " one 
of the most extraordinary and instructive narratives in the 
world which no reader of competent judgment can peruse 
without revering the virtue of the writer, pardoning his self- 
delusion, and ceasing to smile at his peculiarities." We might 
ask, however, if a man can be called self-deluded, who, hav- 
ing paid the spiritual price of spiritual attainments, finds them 
sufficient to quicken, control, and concentrate his whole na- 
ture, to fill his breast with a calm and unfaltering trust, and 
to enable him to be the minister of righteousness and peace to 
thousands of his fellow-creatures. 



WILLIAM PENN 29 

known through his native village of Drayton-in-the- 
Clay for his honesty and simplicity ; as it was com- 
monly averred, "If George says verily, there is no 
altering him." His relatives designed to make him 
" a priest; " but, others dissuading, he was appren- 
ticed to a dealer in wool, shoes, and cattle. 

At the age of nineteen, being scandalized at the 
health-drinking, which he witnessed at a fair, and 
being " called of the Lord one night to forsake all, 
both old and young, and to be to them as a stranger," 
he left his home, to wander alone. After roaming in 
the woods, and avoiding all intimacies, with some 
misgivings, but with weightier inward conflicts, he 
returned again, and for a season repeated this process 
of wandering and resuming his labors, without find- 
ing relief. He had had but a scanty education, and 
could write but rudely. While busied in his trade, 
his thoughts were intensely engaged on religious 
themes. Being regarded as a harmless lunatic, or as 
a victim of religious melancholy, he was generally 
treated with tenderness, though he wearied his 
friends with his disputations. The parish priest, 
Nathaniel Stevens, after in vain endeavoring to give 
peace to the mind of his controverter, was at last 
obliged to say from the pulpit that George Fox " was 
a young man tossed about with mad and unruly 
fancies." 

But Fox accuses the preacher of delivering in ser- 
mons the thoughts and sentiments gathered from 
him. In a most disconsolate state, this true seeker 
after light wandered hither and thither, consulting 
different divines, as the hypochondriac does physi- 



30 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

cians. In his solitary life, buffeted by the dark 
temptations of Satan, with agonized misgivings and 
distress of mind, he in vain sought relief from pro- 
fessors and priests. They were 4 ' but empty, hollow 
casks." <4 None reached his condition." One ad- 
vised him to take tobacco and to sing psalms. To- 
bacco was a thing he did not love, and psalms he was 
in no state to sing. One priest thought that George 
might be in love, for he betrayed his sorrows to some 
milk lasses, which much displeased his patient. An- 
other divine recommended the letting of blood ; but 
George was so dried up with sorrows, griefs, and 
troubles, that he had no blood in him. He was truly 
in a most desolate state, dark in mind, without sym- 
pathy or counsel. He made himself a suit of leather, 
which was fitted for his pilgrim life, and would not 
need repair, and gave himself up to lonely wander- 
ings and meditation, spending whole days in hollow 
trees and lonesome places, studying the Scriptures. 
He was afraid " to stay long in any place, lest, being 
a tender young man, he should be hurt by too fa- 
miliar a conversation with men." He wished he 
were blind and deaf, that he might never see vanity 
or hear blasphemy. 

At last, with infinite joy, Fox found what he was 
seeking, " joy and peace in believing." As he 
walked in a field, it was revealed to him that " his 
name was written in the Lamb's book of life." A 
happiness which a palace does not afford was his. 
The groans of the invisible spirit, and all its exercises 
in temptation and sin, the struggles of the flesh, the 
inward light of truth, the sore conflict with darkness, 



WILLIAM t»ENN 31 

all passed before him as a special manifestation of 
Divinity to his heart. He solved the mystery of 
superiority to the outward and fleshly law. The first 
revelation made to him was that all who were born of 
God were believers, whether Protestants or Papists, 
and that being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not 
enough to fit and qualify men to be ministers of 
Christ. Next it was opened to him that God did not 
dwell in temples, but in believers' hearts. Fox spent 
about three years in methodizing his thoughts and 
inspirations, before he undertook the office of a pub- 
lic teacher. His ministrations were so effectual, both 
for maladies of mind and of body, that the report 
was soon current, " that George Fox had a discern- 
ing spirit." 

The first converts of Fox were almost exclusively 
from among those who had been under the influence 
of some of the many forms of dissent from the estab- 
lished faith and worship ; and amid the excitable and 
anxious spirits of those times he found a multitude 
to whom his words were either as drops of balm or 
as sparks of fire. He endeavored to be present at all 
public gatherings for religion, trade, or sport. He 
angered the priests, but won a multitude of the peo- 
ple. If the Spirit gave him utterance, he prayed ; but 
if prayer was asked of him, he said that he could not 
offer it at the will of others.* He did not scruple to 

* Perm who wrote a preface to Fox's " Journal," says : " But 
above all, he excelled in prayer. The inwardness and weight 
of his spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address and 
behavior, and the fewness and fulness of his words, have often 
struck even strangers with admiration, as they used to reach 
others with consolation. The most awful, living, reverent 
frame I ever felt or beheld, I must say, was his in prayer." 



32 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

interrupt a preacher, for he felt that he had a word 
of life to utter. He made his appearance at courts, 
as well as at " steeple houses ; " he rebuked fiddlers, 
drunkards, swearers, and rhyme-makers ; and, at the 
close of the year 1648, he had advanced so far into 
the truth that " the whole creation had another 
smell " to him. He had a secret insight into the na- 
ture and virtues of things, and thought of practicing 
physic. Full revelations of the inward light were 
made to his mind. It is plain that he studied the 
Bible with his whole heart and understanding, to the 
neglect of all other books; and he is a remarkable 
witness of the true and vital faith, so high above the 
dead barrenness of creeds and formularies, which 
the application of a severe study to the sacred text 
will induce. 

There is a little mysticism, some extravagance, 
and a degree of nonsense and rhapsody, in some of 
his fervent expressions; but deep and ardent faith, 
with a searching insight into human nature, pre- 
dominates. He says that the Lord forbade him to 
put off his hat either to the high or the low ; to bid 
people good morrow, or good evening; to bow or 
scrape with his leg to any one ; and enjoined him to 
use only thee, thou, and thine. " Hat honor was in- 
vented by men in the Fall." The single pronoun 
was in conformity with grammar and Scripture; 
and, though priests and professors raged at his sim- 
plicity, " many did come to see the vanity of putting 
off the hat." Much buffeting and thumping ensued, 
and many hats were lost. Many matters presented 
themselves to his sense of duty, as requiring reforma- 



WILLIAM PENN 33 

tion; such as courts of justice, drinking houses, 
wakes, fairs, feasts, games, May sports, mounte- 
banks, and all sorts of music. He was particularly 
exercised with schoolmasters and mistresses. But 
the priests, and " the church bells, were the black, 
earthly spirits, that wounded his life." 

Thus far, Fox may have been regarded as a harm- 
less religious enthusiast, doing violence in word to 
many prevailing opinions, and presenting himself 
before the populace in opposition to their amuse- 
ments. He was under the protection of sincerity in 
his words and demeanor. Thus far, too, he had fal- 
len under no censure or abuse, except that of words. 
He had neither been whipped, fined, nor imprisoned. 
But now he first set an example in wrong-doing, 
which was readily adopted, and far exceeded by some 
of his first converts, and which presents him 
and them before us as riotous disturbers, if not as 
calumniators. 

One Sunday morning, in 1649, as Fox approached 
Nottingham, and saw the " steeple house," he felt a 
prompting " from the Lord," to " go and cry against 
yonder great idol, and against the worshippers there- 
in." He deserted his own company to go on the 
mission, and he found that " the people looked like 
fallow ground, and the priest like a great lump of 
earth." In the course of the sermon, Fox arose and 
controverted the preacher; and for this offence he 
was committed to prison. From that time forward, 
he pursued his ministry with an unequalled devotion 
and success. Frequent confinements nourished and 
fed the spirit, which spoke from his heart and lips in 
A. b., vol. iv. —3 



34 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the intervals of his freedom. He travelled largely in 
both hemispheres ; an apostolic aspect gave him rev- 
erence even with strangers ; his well proved ministry 
of power raised him almost to the exaltation of an 
idol among his friends. He died with the armor of 
his warfare upon him, while William Penn, with ad- 
miring and loving devotion, watched his last hours, 
bore a faithful testimony to him at his grave, and 
edited his " Letters " and " Journal," perhaps the 
most unclassical, and at the same time the most en- 
gaging and impressive volumes of religious biog- 
raphy. 

To those who are interested in the views and ex- 
periences of the early Friends, even an account of 
them extended through this volume would be too 
defective and brief. Of course, such an account can- 
not be looked for here. The excesses committed by 
some persons calling themselves Quakers, both in 
Old and in New England, such as outrages of lan- 
guage in speech and in letters, were excessively irri- 
tating, apart from all religious bearings. Even Bar- 
clay walked through the streets of Aberdeen in sack- 
cloth and ashes. In New England, men and women 
ran about, and even entered places of worship, en- 
tirely divested of clothing, and by other gross af- 
fronts drew upon themselves inflictions, which never 
would have been visited upon their religious opin- 
ions, if entertained and expressed with a regard to 
the rights of others. These excesses were, how- 
ever, soon repudiated by the true members of the 
Society. Penn never interrupted a religious service 
but once ; and though he at first used the severe terms 



WILLIAM PENN 35 

of controversy in some of his letters, he afterwards 
expressed the following admirable principle : " For 
however differing I am from other men circa sacra, 
and that world, which, respecting men, may be said 
to begin when this ends, I know no religion that de- 
stroys courtesy, civility, and kindness ; which, right- 
ly understood, are great indications of true men, if 
not of good Christians."* 

The quaint sincerity of the early Quakers was not 
one of the least of their peculiarities. The intensity 
of their love for the fresh and vigorous principles 
embraced in their belief, their worship, and their dis- 
cipline, led them to an extreme in condemning the 
preferences of others. George Whithead, one of 
their famous preachers, said that "the singing of 
David's psalms became so burdensome to him that 
sometimes he could not join therewith ; for he saw 
that David's conditions were not generally suitable 
to the states of a mixed multitude, and he found 
himself to be short of what they sung. He durst 
not sing the psalms, lest he should have told lies unto 
God."f 

The great principles professed and most consist- 
ently regarded by the Quakers are familiar to those 
who have taken any proper pains to learn them. 
They are easily stated, for they are simple. They 
have a warrant in the conscience; they are con- 
formed to the strictest interpretation of the Christian 
religion. The great tenet of the inward light, as 
the witness of God in every human breast, is well 

* Penn's " Letter to Justice Fleming," in 1673. 

f Sewel's " History of the People called Quakers," p. 79. 



36 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

and briefly described by Perm : " He that gave us an 
outward luminary for our bodies, hath given us an 
inward one for our minds to act by."* Their pecu- 
liarities of dress, speech, and demeanor had their 
religious meaning, as contrasted with the gay trap- 
pings, the fawning sycophantism, and the levity, 
which prevailed at the time of their origin. One 
would prefer the sober garb of a Quaker to the vain 
and foppish parade of dress which Pepys, for in- 
stance, connects with his appearance at court and at 
church. The first expressions of Quaker principles 
embraced, with remarkable completeness and con- 
sistency, all the doctrines, methods, and scruples, 
which properly belong to the system, or could be 
justly inferred from it.f All individual and social 
abuses, oaths, war, imprisonment for debt, and capi- 
tal punishments, except in extreme cases, were re- 
pudiated by the Quakers, and they cleared them- 
selves from all participation therein. 

* Perm's " Letter to William Popple." 

t The following paragraph of Sir James Mackintosh falls 
within fair limits of candor. " Seeking perfection, by re- 
nouncing pleasures, of which the social nature promotes kind- 
ness, and by converting self-denial, a means of moral discipline, 
into one of the ends of life, it was their more peculiar and hon- 
orable error, that, by a liberal interpretation of that affectionate 
and ardent language in which the Christian religion inculcates 
the pursuit of peace, and the practice of beneficence, they strug- 
gled to extend the sphere of these most admirable virtues be- 
yond the boundaries of nature. They adopted a peculiarity of 
language, and a uniformity of dress, indicative of humility and 
equality, of brotherly love, the sole bond of their pacific union, 
and of the serious minds of men, who lived only for the per- 
formance of duty ; taking no part in strife, renouncing even 
defensive arms, and utterly condemning the punishment of 
death." " Review of the Causes of the Revolution of 1688." 
" Miscellaneous Works," American edition, p. 333. 



WILLIAM PENN 37 

They believed that the great principles of their 
system, like the lessons of the gospel, were equally 
suited for all lands and for all people. Zealous 
preachers, men and women, facing all perils of 
oceans, plagues, dungeons, and stripes, carried the 
message to the Pope, to the Sultan, to Emperors, 
Kings, Princes, and Rulers, and to the people of 
every clime. It is no wonder that large accessions 
were made to the Society of Friends, from the ster- 
ling classes of many communities, especially from 
the English peasantry and yeomanry. Their litera- 
ture was the very perfection of cottage divinity. It 
is richer, plainer, more winning and far more co- 
pious, than that of the Methodist reformers of the 
next century. 



CHAPTER IV 

Perm's serious Tendencies renewed. — Sent to Ireland. — Man- 
ages his Father's Estates there. — Arrested and imprisoned. — 
His Letter thereupon. — Liberated and ordered Home by his 
Father. — Befriended by his Mother. — Becomes a Preacher, 
and an Author. — His first Books. — Has a public Disputa- 
tion. — Publishes his " Sandy Foundation Shaken." — Im- 
prisoned for it. — Other Writings. — Is liberated. — Sent again 
to Ireland. — Reconciled to his Father on his Return. 

Ox the return of Admiral Penn from sea, in 1666, 
he found, to his bitter disappointment, that the lively 
and fashionable air which travel had imparted to 
his son was but temporary, and had yielded, in his 
absence, to the seriousness which was inherent in his 
nature. Intimacy with grave persons, and interest 
in the grave subjects of the times, had had their nat- 
ural effect upon his manners and conversation. The 
difference was extreme between what the young man 
was and what his father would have had him to be. 
Indeed, one remarkable characteristic of the age was, 
that its men and manners, its theory and its practice, 
were wholly uncontrolled by moderation. Scarce a 
single prominent character seems to have stood be- 
tween the utmost freedom of licentiousness on the 
one hand, with all its variety of wickedness, and the 
ungenial moroseness of a sour pietism on the other. 
The Admiral would have been pleased to converse 

38 



WILLIAM PENH 39 

with his son about the court and its gay pleasures, 
and to have had him share his own interest in obtain- 
ing some place of honor or profit. The society 
which he entertained at his own house, and which 
he visited in town, was of a kind which would be 
least congenial to his son, whose demure looks, and 
formal language, and serious conversation, would 
rather excite their ridicule than win their respect. 

The Admiral, determined to eradicate the extreme 
religious tendency of his son. sent him over to the 
court of the Duke of Onnond, Lord-Lieutenant of 
Ireland, with whom he was intimately acquainted. 
This was then the next best school to Paris for 
learning the ways of pleasure, frivolity, and dissi- 
pation. The Duke received his visitor with kind- 
ness, and readily admitted him to the society of the 
lively and fashionable. But what Penn witnessed 
served only to disgust him. The very attempt to 
win him from seriousness, by exposing him to the 
fascinations of vice, served most effectually to con- 
firm him in the more sombre and exaggerated views 
which associated themselves with religion in his 
mind. 

His father, being possessed of two large estates 
in the county of Cork, resolved upon committing the 
entire management of them to him, hoping that close 
and absorbing employment would work an effect 
upon him, which social frivolities had failed to ac- 
complish. William readily assumed the responsible 
charge committed to him. and sustained it so as to 
win the entire approval and the commendation of his 
father. On a visit of business to Cork, he learned 



40 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

that Thomas Loe, whom he regarded as his spiritual 
father, was to speak at a meeting of the Quakers in 
that city. As might be expected, Penn resolved to 
remain and hear. Whether or not the zealous 
preacher knew that his young disciple at Oxford 
was in the crowd which he addressed, he could not 
have chosen introductory words more suited to af- 
fect that listener. His first sentence was, " There 
is a faith which overcomes the world, and there is a 
faith which is overcome by the world." The dis- 
course, conformed to this motto, deeply impressed 
William Penn, calling back and deepening his earli- 
est religious impressions, and enlisted his feelings 
once for all in that sect to which the speaker be- 
longed. Conscience seems to have made a special 
application to himself of the doctrine taught. 

But though he did not yet join the Society of 
Friends, nor assume their garb, he began to attend 
their meetings. At one of these, September 3d, 
1667, he was apprehended, with others, and carried 
before the Mayor, on the strength of a proclamation, 
which had been published seven years before, against 
tumultuous assemblies. The Mayor, noticing that 
his dress did not mark him as a Quaker, offered him 
his liberty if he would give a bond for his good be- 
havior. As Penn had not failed of good behavior, 
he refused to accept his liberty on this condition, and 
was therefore imprisoned, with eighteen others. He 
soon availed himself of the acquaintance which he 
had made with men of station in Ireland, to write a 
letter, from his prison, to the Earl of Orrery, Lord 
President of the Council of Munster. It is a strong, 



WILLIAM PENN 4 1 

dignified, and courteous remonstrance, stating his 
apprehension, not by an act of Parliament or state, 
but by an antiquated order, designed to suppress 
" Fifth Monarchy killing spirits," and presenting 
the folly of such persecution, to one, who, he says, 
was " not long since a good solicitor for the liberty 
I now crave." This letter procured his immediate 
discharge. 

Another bond of union was thus formed between 
him and the new sect, and he soon identified himself 
with the Quakers, with the exception of his dress. 
His father received tidings of his son's course, in a 
letter from a nobleman, and at once ordered him to 
return home. He complied; and, as his dress did 
not betray him, his father did not at once discover 
his frame of mind. But this was soon revealed in 
his language and deportment ; and when his neglect 
of common courtesies, especially that of the hat, and 
his exclusive intimacies Avith Quakers, made his 
father aware of the full truth, he at once sought an 
explanation from William. 

The interview must have been distressing to both 
father and son, who showed an equal degree of reso- 
lution and pertinacity in their respective positions. 
The father, with a parent's love, with worldly hopes, 
and an utter scorn of all sanctimoniousness, im- 
plored his son to regard his wishes and his own in- 
terest. The son, moved, as he believed, by a divine 
impulse, and knowing no motive higher than that 
of conscience, gently resisted alike the commands 
and entreaties of his parent. Anger on the one part, 
and fixed determination on the other, brought the 



42 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

interview to a close. The father offered to give his 
son no further trouble if he would consent only to 
remove his hat in his presence, and in presence of the 
King and the Duke of York. William desired time 
to consider the matter. The Admiral charged him 
with intending to refer the subject to some of the 
Quakers; but his son denied that such was his pur- 
pose, and, retiring to his own chamber, he meditated 
and prayed alone. Sincerity against flattery was 
the question for his conscience to argue. Casuistry 
was then a science, truth was weighed out in syllo- 
gisms, and expediency was, with the multitude, the 
rule of right. Penn had another principle; he ap- 
plied it faithfully, and he returned to say, with the 
greatest filial tenderness, to a respected father, that 
he could not remove his hat by way of compliment to 
any one. His father, on learning his decision, im- 
mediately turned him out of doors.* 

There was a text of Scripture to support the 
young Quaker, thus thrown upon the world without 
a fortune or the means of obtaining a subsistence. 
He grieved more at the pain he had given to his 
father than at his own houseless condition. His 
mother, and some constant friends, supplied his 
wants, though she was compelled to aid him, and to 

* Pepys, under date of December 29th, 1667, writes, " At 
night comes Mrs. Turner to see us; and there, among other 
talk, she tells me that Mr. William Penn, who is lately come 
over from Ireland, is a Quaker again, or some very melan- 
choly thing ; that he cares for no company, nor comes into any ; 
which is a pleasant thing, after his being abroad so long, and 
his father such a hypocritical rogue, and at this time an athe- 
ist." Vol. III. p. 443. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the 
calumnious conclusion of this sentence merely vents the spleen 
and animosity of Pepys against the Admiral. 



WILLIAM PENN 43 

communicate with him, without the knowledge of 
his father. But every such experience, which Wil- 
liam Penn encountered, taught and confirmed to 
him the faith of his subsequent life. 

Being now identified not only in belief, but in suf- 
fering, with the Quakers, he soon became a promi- 
nent and leading instrument in converting others. 
In 1668, at the age of twenty-four, he spoke at their 
meetings — a liberty which was open to all, males and 
females, though we may well believe that few could 
improve it, as he did, for real edification. His reso- 
lute adherence to the principles which he had es- 
poused somewhat mollified his father, who allowed 
him to return to the house, and, though refusing to 
approve, and indeed publicly discountenancing, his 
son, yet used his interest to relieve him from some 
of the inflictions which his attendance at meetings 
brought upon him. In the same year, William 
Penn began to imitate the almost universal practice 
of his fellow-believers, in writing letters of exhor- 
tation.* The Quakers were as voluminous and 
painstaking in this mode of influence, as they were 
earnest and incessant in their public ministry. Epis- 
tles of love and warning went forth from them to 

* I have before me " A Collection of the Works of William 
Penn, in two volumes. To which is prefixed a Journal of 
his Life, with many original Letters and Papers not before 
published." London, 1726, folio. This, the only complete edi- 
tion of the voluminous writings of Penn, was made, and the 
Life composed, by Joseph Besse. 

I have also "The Select Works of William Penn, in Five 
Volumes, 3d Edition, London, 1782, 8vo." This selection con- 
tains those works of the author, which, as having less bearing 
on local and temporary controversies, are regarded as possess- 
ing a permanent value. 



44 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

all sorts of persons, monarchs and servants, friends 
and foes. Penn's first letter of this sort, addressed 
to a fashionable young man of his acquaintance, is 
dated " Navy Office, ioth of the fifth month, 1668." 

This year also witnessed his first appearance as an 
author. The title of his first tract, copied in full, is : 
" Truth exalted ; in a short but sure Testimony 
against all those religious Faiths and Worships, that 
have been formed and followed in the Darkness of 
Apostasy ; and for that glorious Light, which is now 
risen, and shines forth in the Life and Doctrine of 
the despised Quakers, as the alone good old Way of 
Life and Salvation. Presented to Princes, Priests, 
and People, that they may repent, believe, and obey. 
By William Penn, whom divine Love constrains, in 
an holy Contempt, to trample on Egypt's Glory, not 
fearing the King's Wrath, having beheld the Maj- 
esty of Him who is invisible." 

The limits of these pages will permit only the 
slightest notice of the several tracts and volumes is- 
sued by this zealous advocate of a living and antag- 
onistic faith. This, the first, was likewise the most 
ambitious and severe of all his writings; and it is 
not wholly free from what an unprejudiced reader 
might pronounce to be spiritual pride and arro- 
gance. The warning which it contains to " dark 
and idolatrous Papists, to superstitious and loose 
Protestants, to zealous and carnal professors," and 
the declaration of his own freedom, enlightenment, 
and security, could scarcely be set in the bold con- 
trast in which he places them, by one so ardent and 
assured, without putting meekness and humility at a 



WILLIAM PENN 45 

risk. But we must bear in mind that much of the 
peculiarity which marks the views of the Quakers 
to us arises from the manner in which they are ex- 
pressed; for all their standard works were written 
at a time when great quaintness of style and speech 
and the harshest severity of epithet prevailed. 

Penn's second book, called " The Guide Mistaken, 
and Temporizing Rebuked," was published in the 
same year. This is wholly controversial, and by no 
means of the gentlest character, being designed in 
answer to a book by Thomas Clapham, entitled " A 
Guide to the True Religion." Penn calls the au- 
thor " a Cantabrigian Sizer," and treats him with 
great contempt, as " a guide who had not gone a 
page before he lost his way." The reviewer, how- 
ever, had an excuse for his searching criticism of a 
man who had frequently changed his religion, inas- 
much as his book was an attack upon the Quakers 
and misrepresented them. 

Availing himself of the privilege, Penn had the 
satisfaction of being enabled to visit the dying bed 
of Thomas Loe, to whose appeals and lessons he 
ascribed the strength of the convictions which had 
settled upon him with such power in Oxford. A 
dying testimony was regarded as of great impor- 
tance, and of the highest value among the early 
Friends, and the interview between these two suffer- 
ers in a common cause ended in a cheering exhorta- 
tion to the survivor. 

The two most remarkable of the religious works 
of William Penn were produced under circumstances 
of an interesting and exciting character, which first 



46 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

brought him under the inflictions of the law in 
England. Two members of a congregation in Lon- 
don, of which Thomas Vincent, a Presbyterian min- 
ister, was the pastor, went, from curiosity, to attend 
a Quaker meeting, near to their own place of wor- 
ship, and were there converted. Their pastor, be- 
ing highly offended, not only remonstrated with 
them, but violently attacked the Quakers and their 
principles from his pulpit. His charges, being more 
publicly reported, were boldly taken up by Penn, and 
George Whitehead, a distinguished and voluminous 
writer and preacher in the Society, who went to Vin- 
cent, and demanded an opportunity to reply before 
the same audience. A promise to this effect having 
been reluctantly granted, and the time appointed for 
a conference in Vincent's meeting-house, it would 
seem by the Quakers' accounts, (and they are gen- 
erally the most fair and candid of all writers,) that 
the Presbyterian minister did not conduct with pro- 
priety or justice. His own friends so crowded the 
edifice that but few of the Quakers could obtain en- 
trance. The latter were assailed by opprobrious 
epithets, Penn, especially, being stigmatized as a 
Jesuit. Vincent abruptly closed the conference, 
when it was very stormy, by " falling to prayer " 
for the Quakers, as blasphemers. He then rushed 
out, followed by most of his congregation, it being 
nearly midnight. The Quakers, being thus cheated 
of their expected opportunity, continued their de- 
fence in the dark to the few who remained. Vin- 
cent came back with a candle, and ordered them to 
disperse, which they did on being promised another 



WILLIAM PENN 47 

meeting at the same place. The Quakers having in 
vain waited long enough, as they thought, for this 
promise to be redeemed, Penn and Whitehead felt 
" necessitated to visit the meeting-house." This 
they did on a lecture day, and attempted to speak 
after the services ; but Vincent retired, and none of 
the congregation would enter into a discussion with 
them. 

The previous controversy had turned upon the 
common explanation or definition of the doctrine of 
the Trinity, in which the Quakers were heretical. 
Penn was thus induced to write and publish, in 
1668, his famous tract, called " The Sandy Foun- 
dation Shaken," which is a bold attack upon " those 
so generally believed and applauded doctrines of one 
God subsisting in three distinct and separate per- 
sons; of the impossibility of God's pardoning sin- 
ners without a plenary satisfaction; and of the jus- 
tification of impure persons by an imputative 
Righteousness." The publication of this very pow- 
erful tract caused a great excitement, which ex- 
tended beyond the limits to which the agitation 
caused by the Quakers had already reached.* 
Church dignitaries and dissenters were alike scan- 
dalized at it. Penn was apprehended and com- 
mitted to the Tower. In reply to his servant, who 



* Pepys, under date 1668-9, February 12th, says, " went 
home ; and there Pelling hath got W. Penn's book against the 
Trinity. I got my wife to read it to me; and I find it so well 
writ as, I think, it is too good for him ever to have writ it ; 
and it is a serious sort of book, and not fit for everybody to 
read." The index to Pepys, strangely enough, ascribes this 
book to the Admiral. 



48 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

informed him that the Bishop of London had de- 
clared that he should either publicly recant or die a 
prisoner, he sent word to his father, " that his prison 
should be his grave before he would budge a jot." 

While thus restrained of his liberty for nearly 
nine months, William Penn wrote the treatise on 
which his fame as a Christian scholar may safely 
rest. It is entitled " No Cross, No Crown ; A Dis- 
course showing the Nature and Discipline of the 
Holy Cross of Christ." It is a thorough treatise on 
the practice of self-denial, and the faithful perform- 
ance of duty, without asceticism or exaggeration, 
written with power, and in some passages with real 
eloquence, and expresses sentiments from which no 
Christian mind can dissent. Its most remarkable 
feature, however, as giving proof of the large read- 
ing of the author, is its wide collections of testi- 
monies from persons of all ages and places, who 
were eminent, in any way, in support of the views 
which he presents. 

Willing to do all that an honest and conscientious 
man might do to procure his release, Penn wrote a 
letter, dated July 5th, 1669, to Lord Arlington, 
Secretary of State, who had committed him, in 
which he denies the malicious charges of enemies, 
offers a plea for religious liberty, and demands re- 
lease as innocent, or the proof of his guilt, request- 
ing also an audience of the King. In this letter he 
says, " It is not the property of religion to persecute 
religion ; that scorns to employ those weapons to her 
defence that others have used to her depression. It 
is her privilege alone to conquer naked of force or 



WILLIAM PENN 49 

artifice. And that person, who hath not the elec- 
tion of his religion, hath none." 

Penn also wrote in the Tower a small tract, en- 
titled " Innocency with her Open Face, presented by 
Way of Apology for the Book entitled ' The Sandy 
Foundation Shaken.' ' In this tract he asserts his 
belief in the eternity and Deity of Jesus Christ ; but 
we cannot enter into the conditions by which he 
would harmonize his seemingly conflicting views.* 
Some persons were satisfied with what they called 
his recantation, but others ridiculed his alleged in- 
consistency. His own explanation was, that he had 
objected only to terms of human invention. 

By the interference of the Duke of York either 
with or without the solicitation of the Admiral, 
William Penn was released from the Tower by a 
direct discharge from the King. 

On his release, Penn was permitted to return to 

* Penn's own words, found in a fragment of an " Apology 
for Himself," are of concise, but pregnant, meaning. " That 
which engaged the Bishop of London to be warm in my per- 
secution, was the credit some Presbyterian ministers had with 
him, and the mistake they improved against me, of my denying 
the Divinity of Christ, and the doctrine of the Trinity." 

" As I saw very few, so I saw them but seldom, except my 
own father and Dr. Stillingfleet, the present Bishop of Worces- 
ter. The one came as my relation, the other at the King's 
command, to endeavor to secure my change of judgment. But 
as I told him, and he told the King, that the Tower was the 
worst argument in the world to convince me ; for, whoever was 
in the wrong, those who used force for religion could never be 
in the right; so neither the doctor's arguments, nor his moving 
and interesting motives of the King's favor and preferment, 
at all prevailed ; and I am glad I have the opportunity to own 
so publicly the great pains he took, and humanity he showed, 
and that to his moderation, learning, and kindness I will ever 
hold myself obliged." In " Memoirs of Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania," Vol. III. Part II. p. 239. 
A. B., VOL. IV. — 4 



50 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

his father's house, and to reside there, though he 
was not admitted to his father's presence. We learn 
from Pepys, that the Admiral was a great sufferer 
from the gout, and was frequently confined at home. 
He lived but about a year after his son's release from 
the Tower. Perhaps his own irritability of con- 
stitution, as well as his disapprobation of his son's 
course, led to his refusal to see him, and made it 
probably more than desirable that they should not 
then meet. It is pleasant, however, to know, that 
he had full confidence in his son's integrity and sin- 
cerity; for he gave William, through his mother, a 
commission to go again for him to Ireland on busi- 
ness. For this purpose, the son left London on the 
15th of September, 1669, and, pursuing his own 
chosen work on the way, reached Cork on the 26th 
of October. Here, on the following day, he had a 
meeting, and, on the 5th of November, the national 
meeting of Friends was held at his lodgings in Dub- 
lin. At this meeting a letter was drawn up in be- 
half of the Quakers then confined in prison and un« 
der penalty, to whom Penn devoted himself ; and 
he presented the appeal to the Lord-Lieutenant, ac- 
companied by such interest, as served to procure 
their release in the following year. 

Penn was by far the most important man for so- 
cial standing and influence whom the Friends ever 
numbered in their society. His influence, which 
much increased after this, was continually enlisted 
in behalf of individuals and the whole body; and 
seldom did it fail wholly of success, though never 
used to the sacrifice of principle. Besides visiting 



WILLIAM PENN 5 1 

prisons and attending meetings, he wrote several 
letters in Ireland, in behalf of his views, especially 
" A Letter of Love to the Young Convinced," de- 
signed to encourage the new converts. 

In thus devoting himself to labors which lay 
nearest to his heart, William Penn did not slight, in 
any way, the commission which he had received 
from his father. He attended to this faithfully ; and 
when it was executed, he returned home, where, 
much to his satisfaction, he was reconciled to his 
father, and permitted to reside in the house as an 
esteemed son. 



CHAPTER V 

Conventicle Act. — Penn arrested while preaching in the Street 
in London. — His Trial, Commitment, and Discharge. — Death 
of his Father. — William settles the Estate. — His Labors. — 
Is again arrested and imprisoned. — Writings in Prison. — 
Travels in Holland and Germany. — His first Marriage. — His 
Ministry in England. — More controversial Writings and Dis- 
putation. — Penn first interested in America. — Persecution re- 
vived. — Correspondence and Discussion with Richard Baxter. 

William Penn had not long enjoyed the pleas- 
ures of liberty and reconciliation at home before he 
was called to give new proofs of his zeal. The 
famous Conventicle Act, which was passed in 1670, 
rendered penal all meetings of dissenters for wor- 
ship, and their religious gatherings thus became, in 
the eye of the law, riotous and tumultuous assem- 
blies. This Act operated with the greatest severity 
against the Quakers, who never took the shelter of 
concealment, of which all other dissenters, Protes- 
tant and Roman Catholic, availed themselves. The 
principles of the Friends would not allow of any sub- 
terfuge. They must not only meet for worship, but 
must meet manfully in open places ; and, more than 
all, their consciences compelled them to refuse to pay 
the fines, which were the penalty prior to imprison- 
ment under the Conventicle Act. 

The Quakers were thus excluded from their first 
public meeting-house in Grace Church Street, Lon- 

52 



WILLIAM PENN 53 

don. Some of them going there for public worship, 
August 15, 1670, found the doors guarded by sol- 
diers ; and, as they remained near by and were joined 
by others, there was soon a gathering in the street. 
William Penn and William Mead addressed the 
meeting, and were forthwith arrested by a warrant 
from the Lord Mayor, by which they were com- 
mitted to Newgate, to await their trial at the next 
Old Bailey sessions. This trial, which Penn after- 
wards, at his own expense, printed at large, with all 
the documents bearing upon it, was one of the most 
remarkable processes in English jurisdiction, inas- 
much as the jury, in spite of much browbeating, 
overbearance, and severity from the court, agreed to 
clear the prisoners. The technicalities, exaggera- 
tions, and contrivances of the law were matters of 
especial abhorrence to the Quakers, who often 
" bore testimony " against them. 

On this occasion, the accused immediately ob- 
jected to the terms of the indictment, in which sim- 
ple and peaceable people were charged with " tumul- 
tously assembling, with force and arms, in con- 
tempt of the King," " to the great disturbance of his 
peace, and to the great terror of many of his people 
and subjects." With more than the acumen of law- 
yers, and with at least as much of sincerity, did Wil- 
liam Penn and Mead plead their cause. The evi- 
dence failed to convict them, because, though evi- 
dence was adduced that they had spoken, no one 
could testify as to what they had said, and they 
therefore could not be proved to have preached. The 
jury were insulted and inhumanly treated, and kept 



54 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

in duress without refreshment for two days and two 
nights, because they would not bring in a verdict 
under dictation of the court; and after their final 
rendering of " Not guilty " was repeated by them, 
over their own signatures, they were each fined for 
contempt. The same fine was put upon Penn and 
Mead for contempt in wearing their hats; and, as 
they refused to pay, they were committed to a dirty 
hole in the bail-dock, and thence sent with the jury 
to Newgate. Penn's father remitted the amount to 
liberate him and his companions ; otherwise, it would 
have gone unpaid. 

Penn was released from Newgate only in season 
to attend upon the last days of his father. Perhaps 
the Quaker historians have exaggerated the account 
of the temporary alienation of the Admiral from his 
elder son.* The father had tried the means, which 
naturally suggested themselves, to oppose what he 
regarded as the infatuated course of William, and 
his devotion to a purpose which brought with it 
ridicule and loss, rather than worldly profit. It is 
certain that the resolution and integrity of the son 
completely subdued the parent. The Admiral in his 
will intrusted his estate to William, with expressions 
of his confidence and love. Before his death, fore- 
seeing that the principles of his son would bring 
upon him renewed legal penalties and social inflic- 

* Granville Penn, in his "Memoirs of the Admiral," com- 
plains of this exaggeration of the Quaker historians. But 
William Penn, afterwards, while in Holland, gave an account 
of his early religious trials at a meeting, in which he speaks 
of his father's " whipping, beating, and turning [him] out of 
doors," in 1662. 



WILLIAM PENN 55 

tions, he sent an express request from his chamber 
to the Duke of York, to ask from him and his royal 
brother their especial friendship and interference. 
A promise to that effect was returned, and William 
reaped a measure of advantage from it. The son 
has preserved among the dying testimonies in the 
second edition of his " No Cross, No Crown," the 
last counsels of his father, including a Christian 
retrospect of his own life, a lamentation over the 
impiety of the age, and some excellent rules of con- 
duct for his heir. " Son William," said he, " if you 
and your friends keep to your plain way of preach- 
ing, and keep to your plain way of living, you will 
make an end of the priests to the end of the world." 
He died at Wanstead, September 16th, 1670, leav- 
ing his son an estate worth fifteen hundred pounds 
a year, with large claims against the government. 

William Penn faithfully discharged the trust con- 
fided to him on behalf of the family; and hencefor- 
ward, through his life, the cares of complicated busi- 
ness, and the work of his lay ministry, seem to have 
equally divided his time. The latter object was 
pursued more successfully, and with more satisfac- 
tion to himself, than the former. Soon after his 
father's death, hearing that the Quakers, and him- 
self in particular, had been severely attacked by a 
Baptist preacher named Ives, of High Wycomb, 
Buckinghamshire, he insisted pertinaciously upon 
having an opportunity to reply in an open discussion. 
A brother of the preacher, excelling him in power, 
undertook the dispute in public with Penn ; but, at- 
tempting to deal unfairly, the Quakers gained a 



56 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

triumph over him. The dispute was upon " the in- 
ward light." The famous Thomas Ell wood, a pupil 
of Milton, was present. 

On a visit to Oxford, in November of this year, 
he learned that the Quakers there, and in the neigh- 
borhood, had suffered at the hands of the students, 
and having reason to believe that the Vice-Chancel- 
lor had instigated or allowed these persecutions, he 
addressed to him a letter of a sort which that dig- 
nitary had not been wont to receive. In this epistle, 
he describes himself as " one who is above the 
fear of man, whose breath is in his nostrils," and 
addressed the Vice-Chancellor as a " poor mush- 
room." 

During his sojourn at the family seat in Bucking- 
hamshire this winter, he wrote a tract called " A sea- 
sonable Caveat against Popery," controverting a 
pamphlet in explanation of the Roman Catholic be- 
lief. This tract, which contains objections to mat- 
ters of ritual, discipline, and faith in the Roman 
church, carefully draws the line between argument 
and persecution; and the thoroughness of its Prot- 
estantism might, it would seem, have shielded the 
author from the charge of being a Jesuit, under 
which he henceforward suffered much. 

On the 5th of March, 1671, William Penn was 
again apprehended by legal warrant. Being on a 
visit to London, he was speaking in a meeting-house 
of the Quakers in Wheeler Street, when he was 
forcibly drawn out into the street by a military guard 
and conveyed to the Tower. He was soon ar- 
raigned before some of the same magistrates who 



WILLIAM PENN 57 

had conducted his former trial. The attempt to 
convict him by the Conventicle Act, and by the Ox- 
ford Act, respectively, failed by technical inefficacy 
of the testimony, much to the chagrin of the court. 
In this emergency, recourse was had to the oath of 
allegiance, the proffer of which, as a last resource, 
always secured the conviction of the Quakers, as 
their principles led them alike to be faithful to its 
requisitions, and to resist its imposition, because it 
embraced " a profane use " of the name of God. 
Penn, of course, refused to take the oath. The fol- 
lowing is a portion of the conversation which 
ensued. 

Sir John Robinson, (Lieutenant of the Tower.) 
" I vow, Mr. Penn, I am sorry for you ; you are an 
ingenious gentleman ; all the world must allow you, 
and do allow you, that; and you have a plentiful 
estate. Why should you render yourself unhappy, 
by associating with such a simple people? " 

Penn. " I confess, I have made it my choice to 
relinquish the company of those that are ingeniously 
wicked, to converse with those that are more hon- 
estly simple." 

Robinson. " I wish you wiser." 

Penn. " And I wish thee better." 

Robinson. " You have been as bad as other 
folk." 

Penn. "When, and where? I charge thee to 
tell the company to my face." 

Robinson. " Abroad, and at home, too." 

Sir John Shelden, (as is supposed.) " No, no, 
Sir John, that's too much." 



58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Penn. " I make this bold challenge to all men, 
women, and children upon earth, justly to accuse 
me with ever having seen me drunk, heard me swear, 
utter a curse, or speak one obscene word, much less 
that I ever made it my practice. I speak this to 
God's glory, that has ever preserved me from the 
power of those pollutions, and that from a child 
begot an hatred in me towards them. But there is 
nothing more common, than, when men are of a 
more severe life than ordinary, for loose persons to 
comfort themselves with the conceit, that they were 
once as they are, and as if there were no collateral 
or oblique line of the compass or globe, men may be 
said to come from to the arctic pole, but directly and 
immediately from the antarctic. Thy words shall 
be thy burden, and I trample thy slander as dirt 
under my feet." 

Penn nobly, and with great beauty as well as 
force of argument, urged his conscience, his loyalty, 
and his resolution. He was, however, sentenced to 
Newgate for six months, saying, as he left the court, 
" Thy religion persecutes, and mine forgives." He 
employed the time of his confinement, as before, in 
labors of the pen, in defence and illustration of his 
principles. The chief of these was, " The Great 
Case of Liberty of Conscience." This is an admira- 
ble plea from reason, Scripture, and history, in be- 
half of toleration, meeting objections and enforcing 
arguments with much learning and skill. Besides 
the highest authorities quoted in prose, he adduces 
old Chaucer. He likewise wrote, in Newgate, 
" Truth rescued from Imposture," being a reply to a 



WILLIAM PENN 59 

review of the account which he had published of his 
first trial ; also, " A Serious Apology for the Prin- 
ciples and Practices of the People called Quakers," 
which was particularly directed against a book of 
Thomas Fenner's, aspersing and ridiculing the 
Friends. A second edition of " Truth exalted " be- 
ing called for, Penn, while in Newgate, added to it 
a " Cautionary Postscript." He united with other 
Quakers, then in prison, in addressing an appeal to 
Parliament, which was at the time devising meas- 
ures to enforce the Conventicle Act more stringently, 
and likewise in addressing the Sheriffs of London, 
to expose the ill-treatment which he and others re- 
ceived from the jailers. The Friends, when in 
prison, had no idea of being treated as felons, and 
resolved to resist all measures which confounded 
them with criminals. Penn, having received in 
Newgate a letter from a Roman Catholic, complain- 
ing of what he had written against the doctrines of 
that church, sent him a very racy reply, beginning 
thus : " My ingenious friend, I am persuaded I was 
cooler when I read thy letter than thou wast when 
thou writst it. If I may have so much credit with 
thee, and you Catholics are famous for believing, 
(though it be you know not what,) I do declare my 
end of animadverting upon that palliated confession 
was no other, than of presenting to the world the 
Catholic true creed; and I shall avouch the author- 
ities." 

After his liberty was again restored to him, Penn 
travelled for a short time in Holland and Germany. 
We have no account of this his first tour, except 



60 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

some occasional references to it in the narrative of 
his travels six years afterwards. 

The declaration of indulgence published by the 
King, March 15th, 1672, relieved the Non-conform- 
ists of all kinds from many civil penalties, and nearly 
five hundred imprisoned Quakers gained their lib- 
erty, while the whole body of them were for a time 
freed from legal persecution. 

On his return from Holland, in the beginning of 
the year 1672, Penn, being then in his twenty-eighth 
year, married Gulielma Maria Springett. Her 
father, Sir William Springett, having been killed in 
the civil wars, at the siege of Bamber, while in the 
service of Parliament, her widowed mother had mar- 
ried Isaac Pennington, a famous preacher and suf- 
ferer among the Quakers. In his religious family 
the wife of Penn had received her education. After 
his marriage, Penn took a residence at Rickmans- 
worth in Hertfordshire.* 

Far from yielding himself to repose and the en- 
joyment of his property, Penn employed all his 
energies in a work, which constituted his life. The 
Quakers, relieved from legal penalties, were still in 
the heat of controversy, suffering indignities from 
the populace, and from the ministers whose hearers, 
from time to time, went over by multitudes to the 



* Thomas Elwood, who was for many years an inmate and 
tutor in the family of Isaac Pennington, relates many interest- 
ing particulars concerning it, and especially concerning Gu- 
lielma. He describes her attractions of body and of mind, and 
refers to her many suitors. Indeed, it requires all our confi- 
dence in his own simple truthfulness, to admit his disavowal 
of having been greatly interested in her on his own part. 



WILLIAM PENN 6-1 

Friends. Their meetings were very frequent. In a 
tour, which Penn made in September, 1672, through 
Kent, Sussex and Surrey, he preached twenty-one 
times in as many days, and his labors were always 
eminently successful. In November he wrote a let- 
ter of caution and exhortation against falling away, 
to Dr. Hasbert, a physician of Embden, in Germany, 
whom he had interested in his recent visit. He en- 
gaged with dissenters of all sorts, who grudged to 
the Quakers the protection of that mantle of tolera- 
tion which sheltered themselves. In answer to an 
anonymous pamphlet, called " The Spirit of the 
Quakers tried," he published " The Spirit of Truth 
vindicated against that of Error and Envy," con- 
taining, among other proofs of learning and power, 
a comparison of all the versions of the Scripture, in 
all languages, as to their rendering of his favorite 
passage of " the inward light which lighteth every 
man." 

In reply to the two wild fanatics, Reeves and 
Muggleton, he wrote " The New Witnesses proved 
Old Heretics." In the account given of interviews 
between Penn and Muggleton, Greek seems to have 
met Greek, and Penn concludes that " the devil be- 
fooled himself," in choosing Reeves and Muggleton 
for his oracles. Under the title of " Plain Dealing 
with a traducing Anabaptist," Penn published, in 
January, 1673, ms correspondence with John Morse, 
of Watford, who had attacked him. To another 
preacher, who had written, against the Quakers, 
" Controversy ended," Penn replied in " A Winding 
Sheet for Controversy ended." John Faldo, an In- 



62 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

dependent preacher, " being sensible that every sheep 
he lost carried away wool on his back," had attacked 
the Quakers in a book called " Quakerism no Chris- 
tianity." Penn replied at length in his " Quakerism 
a New Nickname for old Christianity." Faldo 
wrote a rejoinder, to which Penn next year re- 
sponded in a bulky volume, " The Invalidity of 
John Faldo's Vindication." In looking over these 
spicy tractates, which have kept their odor more 
tenaciously than the old mummies in the catacombs, 
we receive most lively impressions of the guerilla 
warfare of sects Which succeeded in England to the 
stake and the fetter. 

In 1673, Penn, accompanied by his wife, jour- 
neyed over the western part of England, and, meet- 
ing George Fox, who had lately returned from 
Maryland, they had a series of meetings during a 
great fair at Bristol and made many converts. 

Thomas Hicks, a Baptist preacher, had written 
" A Dialogue between a Christian and a Quaker," 
and as he composed both parts of the controversy, 
he gained an easy victory, though the weak arguing 
of the Quaker assumed to be a fair exhibition of that 
side. To this Penn replied in one of his most dig- 
nified and thorough compositions, called " The 
Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony stated 
and vindicated from Scripture, Reason, and Author- 
ity." Hicks wrote an addition to his Dialogue, tak- 
ing no notice of Penn's answer, which contempt led 
the latter to write his " Reason against Railing, and 
Truth against Fiction." Hicks added still a third 
part to his Dialogue, and again Penn replied in 



WILLIAM PENN 63 

" The Counterfeit Christian detected, and the Real 
Quaker justified." Hicks was silenced, but the 
Quakers, appealing to the Baptists generally, de- 
manded a conference. This was granted; but, as 
advantage was taken of the absence of Penn and 
Whitehead, the former demanded a hearing for 
himself, in a paper entitled " William Penn's just 
Complaint against and solemn Offer of a public Meet- 
ing to the leading Baptists." Penn won his oppor- 
tunity, and powerfully advocated the doctrine that 
Christ was " the Inward Light," as we learn from 
an account of the discussion which he sent to George 
Fox. 

While this matter was in hand, Faldo sent Penn 
a challenge to a public discussion, which was de- 
clined. Faldo then published " A Curb to William 
Penn's Confidence." Penn rejoined in " A Return 
to John Faldo's Reply." Faldo then enlisted 
twenty-one ministers to write a preface to a second 
edition of his " Quakerism no Christianity," and 
Penn finally brought the controversy to a close in 
this quarter, by " A Just Rebuke to One and Twenty 
Learned and Reverend Divines," for which he re- 
ceived high commendation from the famous Dr. 
Henry More. In answer to Henry Halliwell, who 
wrote " Familism, as it is revived and propagated by 
the Quakers," Penn published his " Wisdom justi- 
fied of her Children." And in reply to the Reverend 
Samuel Grevil, of the Established Church, who 
wrote " A Discourse against the Testimony of the 
Light within," Penn returned his " Urim and Thum- 
mim, or the Apostolical Doctrines of Light and Per- 
fection maintained." 



64 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Dissension had already begun its work among the 
Friends. The doctrine of immediate revelations or 
inspiration proved to be dangerous and delusive to 
some minds. Under its impulse, some Quakers had 
travelled on distant missions to the Pope and the 
Turks, and others had been guilty of great extrava- 
gances at home. John Perrot and John Luff had 
gone to Rome. The latter died in the Inquisition; 
the former, having been consigned to a madhouse, 
was restored to his friends in England through much 
interest made in his behalf. He " had a revelation " 
that he must keep on his hat in prayer, unless on oc- 
casions when he had a revelation to take it off. Act- 
ing in different places on this principle, he was, after 
a remonstrance, disowned by the Friends, and he 
gave forth his complaint in an anonymous pamphlet, 
called " The Spirit of the Hat." To this Penn re- 
plied in " The Spirit of Alexander the Coppersmith 
lately revived, and now justly rebuked." Perrot 
then attacked the principles of the Quakers, and 
Penn followed him up with a tract called " Judas 
and the Jews combined against Christ and his 
Followers." 

In the same year, Penn wrote " A Discourse of 
the General Rule of Faith and Practice, and Judge 
of Controversy." Nor did his pen rest here; for, 
besides a paper entitled " The Proposed Comprehen- 
sion (Toleration) soberly and not unseasonably con- 
sidered," he published six letters, three of them be- 
ing in remonstrance or warning to individuals, and 
the others letters of encouragement to Quakers in 
Holland and Germany, in the United Netherlands, 



WILLIAM PENN 65 

and in Maryland. The last is the first indication of 
his interest in the New World. George Fox had 
engaged him to intercede in behalf of the Quakers in 
Lord Baltimore's colony, and by application to the 
Attorney-General to relieve them from oaths and a 
military tax. Penn gave them his aid and advice. 
These numerous writings engaged the zeal as well 
as the time of the author. As to their spirit, it may 
truly be said that it is not so severe as that of the 
books which he controverted. Of course the fact, 
that, in each and all of them, he goes over much the 
same ground of subject and argument, lessens our 
wonder at their number. His letter to Mary Penny- 
man, an apostate, is a remarkable specimen of plain 
language and spiritual rebuke. 

In the year 1674, Parliament having pronounced 
the King's declaration of indulgence illegal, the 
Quakers again came under severe persecution. They 
were fined, imprisoned, robbed, and inhumanly 
treated, under the Conventicle Act and the Oath of 
Allegiance. Their refusal to swear and to pay any 
fines increased their sufferings. Penn wrote, in 
their behalf, letters of remonstrance to justices of 
the peace, and to the King, naming some persecu- 
tors. Finding these of no avail, he published, suc- 
cessively, " A Treatise of Oaths ; " " England's pres- 
ent Interest considered with Honor to the Prince and 
Safety to the People ; " and " The Continued Cry of 
the Oppressed for Justice," all of them works of 
much solidity, skill, and wisdom. Besides these, he 
wrote a long Latin letter to the senate at Embden, 
against the persecution of the Quakers there, and 
a. b., vol. iv. — 5 



66 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

three controversial works, as follows : " Naked 
Truth needs no Shift," in answer to " The Quaker's 
Last Shift found out;" "Jeremy Ives's Sober Re- 
quest proved in the Matter of it to be false, and im- 
pertinent, and impudent; " and " Libels no Proofs." 
Through his incessant interest, George Fox, then in 
prison, was liberated. 

In the year 1675, while residing at Rickmans- 
worth, and preaching in the neighborhood, which 
abounded with Quakers, he had a correspondence, of 
which five pungent letters of his own are preserved, 
with the famous Richard Baxter. This led to an 
open discussion between them before a large audi- 
ence, and both parties claimed the victory. Penn 
also published a small tract, called " Saul smitten 
to the ground," being an account of the dying, 
suffering, and remorse of Matthew Hide, an enemy 
and troubler of the Quakers. Another letter, to a 
Roman Catholic, is dated October 9th of this year. 
These abundant labors vindicate the claims of Penn 
to an honorable fame in England, independently of 
his influence engaged on this side of the water, where 
his interest was now turned. 



CHAPTER VI 

Penn first concerned in American Colonization. — A Trustee of 
West New Jersey. — His Arrangements for its Settlement by 
Quakers. — His zealous Efforts are successful. — His second 
Tour in Holland and Germany. — Returns to England, and 
labors. — Persecution revived. — Penn petitions Parliament for 
the Quakers. — His political Influence. — Intercedes in Behalf 
of West New Jersey. 

Whatever weight may be attached to the miracu- 
lous " opening as to these parts/' which William 
Penn said he had in his youth, it would seem as if a 
mere accident first interested him in American col- 
onization. Flattering reports having circulated in 
England of the prosperity of the numerous Quakers, 
who had settled in the central plantations of the New 
World, led others of the Society to turn their atten- 
tion thither, as to a place of refuge and peace. Lord 
Berkeley and Sir John Carteret having become joint 
patentees from the Duke of York of the province of 
New Jersey, the former, in 1674, conveyed his por- 
tion by deed to John Fenwick, in trust for himself 
and Edward Byllynge. Both Fenwick and Byllynge 
were Quakers. The former seems to have been dis- 
honest or unfair, and a dispute arose between him 
and his partner. Instead of having recourse to law, 
by a better custom of their own, the Quakers called 
in the arbitration of William Penn, and his decision 
was in favor of Byllvnge. Fenwick, though mani- 

67 



68 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

festly in the wrong, still refused to yield; but the 
influence and expostulatory letters of Penn at last 
so far prevailed that he acceded to the settlement, 
and, in 1675, embarked, with his family and other 
Quakers, for West Jersey. 

The attention of Penn was, for a season, called 
from his new employment to his more familiar work 
of controversy; and in answer to John Cheney's 
" Skirmish upon Quakerism," he published " The 
Skirmisher defeated, and Truth defended." He also 
wrote, in 1676, a hortatory letter of ten folio pages, 
addressed jointly to the Princess Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Frederic of Bohemia, and granddaughter of 
James the First, and to her friend and companion, 
the Countess of Homes. Robert Barclay, then on a 
tour of preaching on the Continent, had visited these 
noble ladies, and found them well-disposed to the 
principles of the Quakers. Penn availed himself of 
the information to excite and advise them. 

After an adjustment had been made between Fen- 
wick and Byllynge, the latter, being too much em- 
barrassed to improve it, made over all his property 
to Penn, and two of his creditors as trustees. Penn 
assumed the office with reluctance, but immediately 
devoted himself to its discharge. The province was 
divided into East New Jersey, then somewhat thickly 
settled under Carteret, and West New Jersey; and 
the latter was apportioned into a hundred proprie- 
taries, ten of which were assigned to Fenwick, and 
ninety were held in trust for Byllynge. These were 
immediately offered for sale, and emigration to them 
was invited. Penn had the principal hand in draw- 



WILLIAM PENN 69 

ing up a frame of government, under the title of 
Concessions, or terms of grant and agreement, to be 
mutually signed by the assignees and the purchasers. 
" We put the power in the people,'' says Penn. In- 
vitations were circulated with this paper to induce 
Quakers especially to avail themselves of its privi- 
leges. Some considerable difference of opinion arose 
in the Society at large, about what seemed a derelic- 
tion of principles, by leaving home and escaping per- 
secution, while others entertained too flattering 
hopes. 

To meet these conflicting views, the assignees ad- 
dressed an admonitory circular letter to the members 
of the Society, cautioning the sanguine and encour- 
aging the timid. This letter was accompanied by a 
" Description of West New Jersey/' designed to be 
fair in its delineations, and not at all Utopian. The 
form of government was inviting, as it embraced 
religious freedom, and copied the provision in the 
enactments of Berkeley and Carteret, that there 
should be no taxation independent of the allowance 
of the settlers. Great zeal being now manifested to 
emigrate, two companies of Quakers, the one from 
London, the other from Yorkshire, made large pur- 
chases of land, and the assignees appointed commis- 
sioners from them to treat with the Indians and pre- 
vious white settlers about their just rights to the 
territory, to apportion the lots, and to administer the 
government for a year. These arrangements were 
completed by Penn and his colleagues in the early 
part of 1677. He had at that time left his residence 
at Rickmansworth, and removed to Worminghurst, 



JO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

in Sussex. The work which he had assumed was 
congenial to his taste, and was performed under a 
sense of high responsibility. His spirit was likewise 
somewhat calmed in the retirement and study which 
were necessary in his trust, and the change of occu- 
pation from the consuming passions of controversy, 
to the deliberate business of legislation, doubtless 
had a good effect on his whole character. His later 
years certainly exhibit an alteration of temper, and 
his later writings show more of a spirit of modera- 
tion. The most devoted admirers and eulogists of 
Penn take upon themselves an unnecessary as well 
as a doubtful office, when they would vindicate his 
religious zeal from the charge of partaking largely 
in the less commendable traits of the early Quakers. 
It is no reproach to him that age enlarged his wis- 
dom and that reflection increased his charity. 

Penn had the satisfaction of bringing his labors 
for the Quaker colonization of West New Jersey to 
a propitious result. In 1677, three vessels, two from 
London and one from Hull, sailed for their new 
destination, carrying more than four hundred 
Quakers, who gave to their settlement the name of 
Burlington, and were rapidly joined by successive 
reinforcements from their Society. Charles the Sec- 
ond, in his pleasure barge, went alongside the first 
vessel in the Thames, and gave to the passengers 
his blessing, such as it was. 

After attending the yearly meeting of the Quakers 
in London, in June, 1677, and interesting himself in 
behalf of those who were suffering there, Penn 
visited his mother in Essex, and then, fulfilling a 



WILLIAM PENN 7 1 

purpose which he had long cherished, he sailed for 
Holland in " the service of the gospel." Accom- 
panied by Fox, Barclay, and six other Quakers, with 
two servants, he embarked at Harwich for Rotter- 
dam, July 26th. As has been already remarked, 
these journeys into foreign lands, to spread the prin- 
ciples of the Quakers, had engaged many devoted 
laborers. The names of persons high and low in 
station, simple and wise in intellect, who were " seek- 
ing truth and life," and were favorably disposed to- 
ward the new dispensation, were discovered, and the 
persons were sought out. Information was most 
methodically communicated at the yearly, monthly, 
and weekly meetings of the Friends, and thus a 
chain, as strong and more visible than that of sym- 
pathy, was made to unite believers all over Christian 
Europe. The Princess Elizabeth had answered 
Perm's letter, and some pardonable gratification at 
the prospect of so distinguished a convert encouraged 
him for his second ministerial tour. The master of 
the vessel which carried him, having sailed with his 
father, showed him kindness on board. 

Penn, separating at times from his companions, 
and joining others, travelled diligently over Holland 
and Germany, making the most of every opportunity 
to disseminate his views. He made use of any mode 
of conveyance that came to his relief, and, failing of 
such aid, his feet were sufficient. He held meetings 
in chambers, rooms, and public places ; he rose from 
his bed, after having retired, to expound his princi- 
ples to the inquisitive, and endeavored to be present 
at all the regular assemblies already established on 



72 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the Continent by little communities of Friends. He 
paid particular attention to distinguished converts, 
and to the disciples who had been gathered by De 
Labadie, whose views resembled his own. He as- 
sisted in drawing up rules of discipline. He wrote 
many letters to foreigners, and to his own country- 
men, one of them being addressed to the King of 
Poland, remonstrating with him for his persecuting 
spirit, and another to those of his own Society in 
England, which, dissatisfied with the attempts re- 
cently made to repress extravagances, and to main- 
tain discipline in the body, had caused discord and 
separation. After a most successful tour, closed, 
however, by a stormy and dangerous passage, he 
reached Harwich on his return, October 24th, 1677, 
and multiplied his letters of counsel in all directions. 
These travels doubtless suggested to Penn much in- 
formation, which was subsequently of value to him, 
and gave him an enlarged acquaintance with human 
nature. Emigrants from nearly every place which 
he visited were afterwards found in the Jerseys, or in 
Pennsylvania. 

He returned to his family, and enjoyed a season 
of repose, which was brief, and not free from inter- 
ruptions. Business and zeal led him to frequent 
visits to London. In the same year, he went, with 
other Quaker leaders, to Bristol, and took part in a 
famous dispute with William Rogers, the head of the 
separatists and the antagonist of Barclay. 

But his services were now engaged in a new emer- 
gency of danger, to ward off from the Quakers more 
inflictions arising from the troubles of the times. 



WILLIAM PENN 73 

The discovery of the pretended Popish plot had in- 
flamed the people and their rulers against the Roman 
Catholics. The cry of the Jesuits was in every ear, 
and imagination conjured up all horrors as meditated 
by them, while it discovered beneath all the disguises 
of sectarianism and fanaticism, only the more sly 
and dangerous members of that order. The Act 
under which most stringent penalties were visited on 
the Papists included all dissenters, but fell most 
heavily upon the Quakers, who sought no conceal- 
ment, and who therefore suffered renewed trials and 
losses. They were, moreover, regarded as disguised 
Jesuits of the most dangerous sort, by the mass of 
the people; and this delusion was only conformed 
to the prevailing idea, that Popery was the Mystery 
of Iniquity. Penn, especially, was publicly accused 
of being in orders and under pay of the Pope. 

Parliament, recognizing the justice of distinguish- 
ing between Protestant and Popish dissenters, de- 
signed a protecting clause, which would relieve all 
who would take the oath and subscribe the declara- 
tion against Popery. The Quakers could not take 
the oath, and were thus subjected to the prosecu- 
tions of the Exchequer, and to the rage of the popu- 
lace. Penn, therefore, presented petitions to both 
Houses, objecting to the form, not to the matter of 
the protecting clause, and asking that the word of 
the Quakers might stand for their oaths ; a falsehood 
in them being punished as perjury. He was ad- 
mitted to a hearing before a Committee of the Com- 
mons, March 22d, 1678. Here he positively denied 
the absurd charge of being a Jesuit; and, while 



74 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

pleading for his own friends, he magnanimously in- 
cluded the Roman Catholics in his plea. " I would 
not be mistaken. I am far from thinking it fit that 
Papists should be whipped for their consciences, be- 
cause I exclaim against the injustice of whipping 
Quakers for Papists. No! for though the hand, 
pretended to be lifted up against them, hath (I know 
not by what discretion) lit heavy upon us, and we 
complain, yet we do not mean that any should take 
a fresh aim at them, or that they must come in our 
room. We must give the liberty we ask, and cannot 
be false to our principles, though it were to relieve 
ourselves." 

On a second hearing before the Committee, Penn 
spoke again in much the same strain. He says, " I 
was bred a Protestant, and that strictly too. I lost 
nothing by time or study ; for years, reading, travel, 
and observations made the religion of my education 
the religion of my judgment." He proceeds to vindi- 
cate his friends as thorough Protestants, and as sup- 
porters of government, being perfectly satisfied with 
that which was established, and determined, " with 
Christian humility and patience, to tire out all mis- 
takes about us, and wait their better information, 
who, we believe, do as undeservedly as severely treat 
us." These appeals of Penn so far availed that a 
clause for the relief of the Quakers was introduced 
into the bill before Parliament, and passed the Com- 
mons, but had not reached its third reading in the 
Upper House when Parliament was prorogued. It 
was by this resolute and unyielding pertinacity, that 
the Quakers before long secured to themselves free- 



WILLIAM PENN 75 

dom from ioaths and from military service, and 
liberty to solemnize their own marriages. 

Penn published this year " A Brief Answer to a 
False and Foolish Libel," in reply to an anonymous 
book, called " The Quakers' Opinions," which un- 
dertook to represent the sentiments of the Friends 
by extracts from some of their writings, with com- 
ments. He also wrote " An Epistle to the Children 
of Light in this Generation," which was designed to 
calm and strengthen the minds of the Quakers amid 
the real trials and the panics and anxieties of those 
times of trouble. 

In the following year, 1679, Penn attempted to do 
for all his Protestant brethren the same kind service, 
which he had performed for the members of his own 
Society, namely, to calm and direct their anxious 
feelings under the panic, which distracted all minds 
on account of the expected restoration of Popery. 
In " An Address to Protestants of all Persuasions 
upon the present Conjuncture, more especially to the 
Magistracy and Clergy, for the Promotion of Virtue 
and Charity," he advanced truths and counsels 
equally and permanently valuable in all social emer- 
gencies. He exposed the prevailing wickedness in 
high and low places; he presented in a strong light 
the utter folly of all human tests and standards in 
matters of faith, and he traced these sins and errors 
to their fruitful causes. About the same time, too, 
William Penn performed a grateful labor of love, in 
writing a preface to a folio collection of the works of 
Samuel Fisher, an eminent and honored preacher 
among the Friends, who died while imprisoned for 
his faith. 



76 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Penn made himself many enemies, at this period 
of his life, by his close attention to each crisis in the 
ever-shifting distractions of the time. He filled a 
prominent place in public affairs, because of his in- 
timacies at court, his acquaintance with party lead- 
ers, and his position as the acknowledged head of his 
religious Society. His enemies could not or would 
not discriminate between the avowed opposition of 
the Quakers to all civil enactments about religion, 
and their supposed obligation to take no part in the 
great public agitations of the time. Because they 
resisted all restraints of conscience, and would not 
fight, nor swear, it was exacted of them that they 
should be silent spectators of the turmoil and ferment 
of that troubled period. But they could discriminate 
more wisely. When writs were issued for a new 
Parliament, Penn. engaged the interest of many free- 
holders of his Society, and made strenuous exertions, 
which brought upon himself insult and abuse, in a 
repeated attempt, unsuccessful in both instances, to 
secure the election of his friend the famous Algernon 
Sydney. He also wrote a pamphlet, equally plain in 
its counsel, to the court and the people, entitled 
" England's great Interest in the Choice of a new 
Parliament, dedicated to all her Freeholders and 
Electors." This was followed by a volume, con- 
taining " One Project for the Good of England ; that 
is, our Civil Union is our Civil Safety." In this 
latter work, he aims to secure protection for Protes- 
tant dissenters as citizens, by suggesting some test 
which will distinguish them from the subjects of the 
Pope, though he carefully demands freedom from 
persecution for all. 



WILLIAM PENN 77 

His pen was exercised, in 1680, in writing Pref- 
aces to three books, put forth by the Quakers in ex- 
postulation and complaint of the renewed inflictions 
visited upon them, and also in a Preface to the works 
of Isaac Pennington, already mentioned as the step- 
father of Mrs. Penn. 

Meanwhile, as one of the trustees of Byllynge, 
and as agent for the settlers in West New Jersey, the 
court influence of Penn was engaged in their behalf 
this year. That colony was now flourishing in early 
prosperity, and many of the Quakers, in successive 
companies, were seeking its laborious retreats. But 
its prosperity was threatened, and its colonists were 
oppressed, by the renewal of a tax laid upon it, ten 
years before, in favor of the Duke of York, its orig- 
inal proprietary. Governor Andros, of the province 
of New York, revived the demand at this time, and 
of course the trustees of Byllynge were appealed to, 
to secure the fulfillment of the contract under which 
the settlers, succeeding, as they maintained, to the 
rights of Berkeley and Byllynge, had purchased. At 
the risk of offending the Duke of York, Penn applied 
to him for relief. The Duke referred the matter to 
the council, and, after some time, by the decision of 
Sir William Jones, the colonists were declared ex- 
empt from the burden. 



CHAPTER VII 

Pcnn petitions the King for a Grant of Land in America. — ■ 
Opposition to it. — His Success. — The Charter. — Title of his 
Province. — Is a Purchaser of East New Jersey. — His Influ- 
ence in his religious Society. — Preparations for the Settle- 
ment of his Province. — First Emigration. — Penn's first Pro- 
ceedings. — Elected to the Royal Society. — He escapes another 
Arrest. — Death of his Mother. — His Frame of Government. 
— Obtains a Release from the Duke of York, and a Deed of 
the Territories. — Prepares to embark. — His Counsels to his 
Family. 

The interest of William Penn having been thus 
engaged for some time in the colonization of an 
American province, and the idea having become fa- 
miliar to his mind of establishing there a Christian 
home as a refuge for Friends, and the scene for a 
fair trial of their principles, he availed himself of 
many favorable circumstances to become a proprie- 
tary himself. The negotiations in which he had had 
so conspicuous a share, and the information which 
his inquiring mind would gather from the adventures 
in the New World, gave him all the knowledge which 
was requisite for his further proceedings. Though 
he had personal enemies in high places, and the pro- 
ject which he designed crossed the interests of the 
Duke of York and of Lord Baltimore, yet his court 
influence was extensive, and he knew how to use it. 
The favor of the monarch, and of his brother the 
Duke, had, as before stated, been sought by the 

78 



WILLIAM PENN 79 

dying Admiral for his son, and freely promised. But 
William Penn had a claim more substantial than a 
royal promise of those days. The crown was in- 
debted to the estate of the Admiral for services, 
loans, and interest, to the amount of sixteen thousand 
pounds. The exchequer, under the convenient man- 
agement of Shaftesbury, would not meet the claim. 
Penn, who was engaged in settling the estate of his 
father, petitioned the King, in June, 1680, for a 
grant of land in America as a payment for all these 
debts.* 

The request was laid before the Privy Council, 
and then before the Committee of Trade and Planta- 
tions. Penn's success must have been owing to great 
interest made on his behalf; for both the Duke of 
York, by his attorney, and Lord Baltimore, opposed 
him. As proprietors of territory bounding on the 
tract which he asked for, and as having been already 
annoyed by the conflict of charters granted in the 
New World, they were naturally unfairly biassed. 
The application made to the King succeeded after 
much debate. The provisions in the charter of Lord 
Baltimore were adopted by Penn with slight altera- 
tions. Sir William Jones objected to one of the pro- 
visions, which allowed a freedom from taxation, and 
the Bishop of London, as the ecclesiastical super- 
visor of plantations, proposed another provision, to 
prevent too great liberty in religious matters. Chief- 
Justice North having reduced the patent to a satisfac- 
tory form, to guard the King's prerogative and the 

* The Petition is in " Pennsylvania Papers," page 1, and in 
the " Journal of the Plantation Office," Vol. III. p. 174. 



80 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

powers of Parliament, it was signed by writ of privy 
seal at Westminster, March 4th, 1681. It made 
Penn the owner of about forty thousand square 
miles of territory. 

This charter is given at length by Proud and other 
writers.* The preamble states, that the design of 
William Penn was to enlarge the British empire, and 
to civilize and convert the savages. The first section 
avers that his petition was granted on account of the 
good purposes of the son, and the merits and services 
of the father. The bounds of the territory are thus 
defined : " All that tract or part of land, in America, 
with the islands therein contained, as the same is 
bounded on the east by Delaware River, from twelve 
miles distance northwards of New Castle town, unto 
the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, if 
the said river doth extend so far northward; but if 
the said river shall not extend so far northward, then, 
by the said river, so far as it doth extend ; and from 
the head of the said river, the eastern bounds are to 
be determined by a meridian line to be drawn from 
the head of the said river, unto the said forty-third 
degree. The said land to extend westward five de- 
grees in longitude, to be computed from the said 
eastern bounds ; and the said lands to be bounded on 
the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth 



* " History of Pennsylvania," Vol. I. p. 171-187. The long in- 
terval, which elapsed between Penn's request for the grant and 
his reception of the charter, was occupied by discussions in the 
council, and by correspondence with Sir John Werden, in be- 
half of the Duke of York and the agents of Lord Baltimore. 
All the documents may be found in Hazard's " Register of 
Pennsylvania," Vol, I. pp. 269-271, and 273, 274. 



WILLIAM PENN 8 I 

degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a 
circle drawn at twelve miles' distance from New 
Castle, northward and westward, unto the beginning 
of the fortieth degree of northern latitude ; and then 
by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude 
above mentioned." 

Though these boundaries appear to be given with 
definiteness and precision, a controversy, notwith- 
standing, arose at once between Penn and Lord Bal- 
timore, which outlasted the lives of both of them, 
and, being continued by their representatives, was 
not in fact closed until the Revolutionary War. 

The charter vested the perpetual proprietaryship 
of this territory in William Penn and his heirs, on 
the fealty of the annual payment of two beaver-skins ; 
it authorized him to make and execute laws not re- 
pugnant to those of England, to appoint judges, to 
receive those who wished to transport themselves, 
to establish a military force, to constitute municipali- 
ties, and to carry on a free commerce. It required 
that an agent of the proprietor should reside in or 
near London, and provided for the rights of the 
Church of England. The charter also disclaimed all 
taxation, except through the proprietor, the Gov- 
ernor, the Assembly, or Parliament, and covenanted, 
that, if any question of terms or conditions should 
arise, it should be decided in favor of the proprietor. 
By a declaration to the inhabitants and planters of 
Pennsylvania, dated April 2d, the King confirmed 
the charter, to ratify it for all who might intend to 
emigrate under it, and to require compliance from 
all whom it concerned. 
a. b., vol. iv, —6 



82 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

By a letter from Penn to his friend Robert Turner, 
written upon the day on which the charter was 
signed, we learn that the proprietor designed to call 
his territory New Wales; but the under-secretary, a 
Welshman, opposed it. Penn then suggested Sylva- 
nia, as applicable to the forest region ; but the secre- 
tary, acting under instructions, prefixed Penn to this 
title. The modest and humble Quaker offered the 
official twenty guineas as a bribe to leave off his 
name. Failing again, he went to the King, and 
stated his objection ; but the King said he would take 
the naming upon himself, and insisted upon it as 
doing honor to the old Admiral.* 

Having the satisfaction of hearing of the flourish- 
ing prospects of West New Jersey, Penn became, 
with eleven others, a purchaser of East New Jersey, 
which was sold in February, 1682, according to the 
will of Sir George Carteret. Twelve more partners, 
nearly all of whom were Quakers, as were the whole 
of the first twelve, were admitted to the purchase 
and management; and this colony, of which Eliza- 
beth Town was the capital, was soon populous and 
prosperous. 

With all the increasing cares which Penn was 
about to assume, he was not remiss in the discharge 
of the duty, which seems to have been looked for 
from him rather than assumed by him, of acting as 
the guiding mind of his enlarged religious Society. 
At this time, the line was drawn between the fanati- 
cal or enthusiastic party, who laid claim to special 

* " Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," 
Vol. I. p. 201. 



WILLIAM PENN 83 

revelations, which they followed to the contempt of 
discipline, and the moderate party, who were in favor 
of the judicious methods and restraints, which have 
since given compactness and dignity to the Society 
of Friends. Penn showed his judgment, not only by 
the side which he had espoused from the beginning, 
but by his mode of expostulating with the unruly and 
discordant. He published a little tract, entitled " A 
Brief Examination and State of Liberty Spiritual, 
both with Respect to Persons in their private Ca- 
pacity, and in their Church Society and Com- 
munion." He also engaged most zealously for the 
relief of several members of his Society, who had 
been fined and imprisoned at Bristol, and wrote " A 
Letter to the Friends of God in the City of Bristol." 
Penn now resigned the charge of West New Jer- 
sey, and devoted himself to the preliminary tasks, 
which should make his province available to himself 
and others. He sent over, in May, his cousin and 
secretary, Colonel William Markham, then only 
twenty-one years old, to make such arrangements for 
his own coming as might be necessary.* This gen- 
tleman, who acted as Penn's deputy, carried over 
from him a letter, dated London, April 8th, 1681, 
addressed " For the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania ; 
to be read by my Deputy." This was a courteous 
announcement of his proprietaryship and intentions 
to the Dutch, Swedes, and English, who, to the num- 

* Anthony Brockholls, Lieutenant-Governor of New York, 
having received Markham's credentials, issued an Order con- 
formed to them, to all magistrates in Pennsylvania, dated June 
21st, 1681. Hazard's " Register of Pennsylvania," Vol. I. 
p. 305. 



84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

ber, probably, of about three thousand, were then 
living within his patent* 

Penn's object being to obtain adventurers and set- 
tlers at once, he published " Some Account of the 
Province of Pennsylvania, in America, lately 
granted, under the Great Seal of England, to Wil- 
liam Penn." This was accompanied by a copy of 
the charter, and a statement of the terms on which 
the land was to be sold, with judicious advice ad- 
dressed to those who were disposed to transport 
themselves, warning them against mere fancy 
dreams, or the desertion of friends, and encouraging 
them by all reasonable expectations of success. 

The terms of sale were, for a hundred acres of 
land, forty shillings purchase money, and one shil- 
ling as an annual quitrent. This latter stipulation, 
made in perfect fairness, not unreasonable in itself, 
and ratified by all who of their own accord acceded 
to it, was, as we shall see, an immediate cause of 
disaffection, and has ever since been the basis of a 
calumny against the honored and most estimable 
founder of Pennsylvania. 

Under date of July nth, 1681, Penn published 
" Certain Conditions or Concessions to be agreed 
upon by William Penn, Proprietary and Governor 
of the Province of Pennsylvania, and those who may 
become Adventurers and Purchasers in the same 
Province." These conditions relate to dividing, 
planting, and building upon the land, saving mul- 

* The original letter has been recovered by the zealous pains 
of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and appears in their 
" Memoirs," Vol. III. Part II. p. 205. 



WILLIAM PENN 85 

berry and oak trees, and dealing with the Indians. 
These documents were circulated, and imparted suf- 
ficient knowledge of the country and its produce, so 
that purchasers at once appeared, and Penn went to 
Bristol to organize there a company called " The 
Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania," * who 
purchased twenty thousand acres of land, and pre- 
pared to establish various trades in the province. 

Yet further to mature his plans, and to begin with 
a fair understanding among all who might be con- 
cerned in the enterprise, Penn drew up and sub- 
mitted a sketch of the frame of government, pro- 
viding for alterations, with a preamble for liberty of 
conscience. On the basis of contracts and agree- 
ments thus made, and mutually ratified, three pas- 
senger ships, two from London and one from Bristol, 
sailed for Pennsylvania in September, 1681. One 
of them made an expeditious passage; another was 
frozen up in the Delaware ; and the third, driven to 
the West Indies, was long delayed. They took over 
some of the ornamental work of a house for the 
proprietor. 

The Governor also sent over three commissioners, 



* The constitution of this society, copied from an old con- 
temporaneous pamphlet, is in Hazard's " Register of Pennsyl- 
vania," Vol. I. p. 394, 397. It appears in a letter from Penn to 
Robert Turner, dated August 25th, 1681, that a very tempting 
offer was made to him to enrich himself by sacrificing one of 
his most cherished purposes. " I did refuse a great temptation 
last second day, which was six thousand pounds, and pay the 
Indians, for six shares, and make the purchasers a company, 
to have wholly to itself the Indian trade from south to north, 
between the Susquehanagh and Delaware Rivers, paying me 
two and a half per cent, acknowledgment or rent." " Memoirs 
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. I. p. 205. 



86 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

whose instructions we learn from the original docu- 
ment addressed to them by Penn, dated September 
30th, 1 68 1.* These commissioners were William 
Crispin, John Bezar, and Nathaniel Allen. Their 
duty was that of "settling the colony." Penn refers 
them to his cousin Markham, "now on the spot." 
He instructs them to take good care of the people; 
to guard them from extortionate prices for com- 
modities from the earlier inhabitants ; to select a site 
by the river, and there to lay out a town : to have his 
letter to the Indians read to them in their own 
tongue; to make them presents from him, (adding, 
" Be grave; they love not to be smiled upon;") and 
to enter into a league of amity with them. Penn 
also instructs the commissioners to select a site for 
his own occupancy, and closes with some good ad- 
vice in behalf of order and virtue. 

These commissioners probably did not sail until 
the latter part of October, as they took with them the 
letter to the Indians, to which Penn refers. This 
letter, bearing date October 18th, 1681, is a beauti- 
ful expression of feeling on the part of the proprie- 
tor. He does not address the Indians as heathen, 
but as his brethren, the children of the one Father. 
He announces to them his accession, as far as a royal 
title could legitimate it, to a government in their 
country ; he distinguishes between himself and those 
who had ill-treated the Indians, and pledges his love 
and service. 

* This document likewise has been recovered by the Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society, and appears in the " Memoirs," 
Vol. II. Part I. p. 215-221. 



WILLIAM PENN 87 

About this time, William Penn was elected a fel- 
low of the Royal Society of London, probably by 
nomination of his friend Dr. John Wallis, one of its 
founders, and with the hope that his connection with 
the New World would enable him to advance its 
objects. 

From an incident which now occurred to Penn 
we gather a very lively image of " the form and 
pressure " of the age, and of the strange conflicts 
and measures of a government, which, while it re- 
moved all its penalties from wicked actions, laid 
them heavily upon scrupulous consciences. While 
immersed in his many cares, and making arrange- 
ments to embark for his possessions, this distin- 
guished man, who, by court influence and personal 
worth, had been invested with the delegated sover- 
eignty of a territory, which might be compared for 
size with England, very narrowly escaped being ap- 
prehended on a visit to a Quaker meeting in London. 
The force of his own words, when preaching, over- 
awed the constable, who had a warrant to arrest him 
and commit him to prison. 

The death of his mother, at this time, was a severe 
affliction to Penn. She was worthy of his esteem, 
and had tenderly confirmed her claims to it by her 
constant kindness when his father was alienated 
from him. He felt her loss most deeply; it caused 
him a temporary illness and confinement. 

The constitution of Pennsylvania, or frame of 
government, the sketch of which he had offered to 
the Society of Traders, was now published, as 
amended, consisting of a preface, twenty-four 



88 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

articles, and forty laws. He introduces it with a 
very clear and admirable statement of the positive 
necessity of government, its authority, design, and 
good ends, with its means; its object being not only 
to resist evil, but to advance many excellent con- 
cerns. As to particular frames and models, he is 
brief, for he would rather be cautious than inventive. 
Many tyros were then speculating upon government, 
and offering Utopian schemes. No frame, he says, 
can or ought to be unalterable on emergencies ; each 
must be adapted to the peculiarities of place and 
people ; the worst planned, in good hands, may effect 
good; the best, in ill hands, will do nothing good. 
" Any government is free to the people under it 
when the laws rule, and the people are a party to 
those laws." Governments rather depend upon men, 
than men upon governments. 

In drawing up his constitution, Penn had the ad- 
vice of Sir William Jones, and of Colonel Henry 
Sydney, brother of Algernon Sydney. The govern- 
ment was to be in the hands of the Governor and 
freemen, constituting a Provincial Council and a 
General Assembly, to be chosen by the freemen. 
The Governor, or his deputy, was to be president of 
the Council, with a treble vote. The Council was 
to consist of twenty-two members, with a successive 
renewal of a-third of the number annually. The 
proposing and execution of the laws rested with the 
Council. The General Assembly, with no other 
power than that of approving or rejecting a measure, 
was to consist, at first, of all the freemen ; the next 
year of two hundred, with a provision for its in- 



WILLIAM PENN 89 

crease. Elections were to be by ballot. The con- 
stitution was not to be altered without consent of the 
Governor, and six-sevenths of the freemen in both 
branches. The forty laws were simple in form, com- 
prehensive, wise, and just. 

With a caution, which the experience of former 
purchasers rendered essential, Penn obtained of the 
Duke of York a release of all his claims within the 
patent. His Royal Highness executed a quit-claim 
to William Penn and his heirs, on the 21st of Au- 
gust, 1682. The Duke had executed, in March, a 
ratification of his two former grants of East Jersey. 
But a certain fatality seemed to attend upon these 
transfers of ducal possessions. After various con- 
flicts and controversies long continued, we may add, 
though by anticipation, that the proprietaryship of 
both the Jerseys was abandoned, and they were sur- 
rendered to the crown under Queen Anne, in April, 
1702. 

Penn also obtained of the Duke of York another 
tract of land adjoining his patent. This region, af- 
terwards called the Territories, and the three Lower 
Counties, now Delaware, had been successively held 
by the Swedes and Dutch, and by the English at 
New York. The Duke confirmed it to William 
Penn, by two deeds, dated August 24th, 1682. 

The last care on the mind of William Penn, be- 
fore his embarkation, was to prepare proper counsel 
and instructions for his wife and children. This he 
did in the form of a letter written at Worming- 
hurst, August 4th, 1682. He knew not that he 
should ever see them again, and his heart poured 



90 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

forth to them the most touching utterances of affec- 
tion. But it was not the heart alone which indited 
the epistle. It expressed the wisest counsels of 
prudence and discretion. All the important letters 
written by Penn contain a singular union of spiritual 
and worldly wisdom. Indeed, he thought these two 
ingredients to be but one element. He urged econ- 
omy, filial love, purity, and industry, as well as piety, 
upon his children. He favored, though he did not 
insist upon their receiving his religious views. We 
may express a passing regret, that he who could give 
such advice to his children should not have had the 
joy to leave behind him any one who could meet the 
not inordinate wish of his heart. 

In the meanwhile, his deputy, Markham, acting 
by his instructions, was providing him a new home, 
by purchasing for him, of the Indians, a piece of 
land, the deed of which is dated July 15th, and en- 
dorsed with a confirmation, August 1st, and by com- 
mencing upon it the erection, which was afterwards 
known as Pennsbury Manor. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Penn embarks for his Province. — Passage, Arrival, Landing 
Day, at New Castle. — Visits New York, Long Island, and 
the Jerseys. — Holds Assembly at Chester. — Legislation. — 
Unites the Territories. — Conference with Lord Baltimore. — 
Early Incidents. — Penn's Treaty with the Indians. — The 
Treaty Tree, Pennsbury. — Philadelphia. — Survey and Divi- 
sion of the Province and Territories. — The Assembly Con- 
vened. — New Frame of Government. — Judicial Proceedings. 
— Witchcraft. — Education. — Interest in the Indians. — Penn's 
Letter to the Free Society of Traders. — Difficulties with Lord 
Baltimore. — Penn resolves to return to England. — Prepara- 
tions. — Assembly. — Prosperity of the Province. 

All his arrangements being completed, William 
Penn, at the age of thirty-eight, well, strong, and 
hopeful of the best results, embarked for his colony, 
on board the ship Welcome, of three hundred tons, 
Robert Greenaway master, on the last of August, 
1682. While in the Downs, he wrote a Farewell 
Letter to Friends, the Unfaithful and Inquiring in 
his native land,* dated August 30th, and probably 
many private letters. He had about one hundred 
fellow-passengers, mostly Friends from his own 
neighborhood in Sussex. The vessel sailed about 
the 1st of September, and almost immediately the 
smallpox, that desolating scourge of the passenger 

* This is not given in the folio edition of Penn's Works. 
91 



92 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

ships of those days, appeared among the passengers, 
and thirty fell victims to it. The trials of that voy- 
age, told to illustrate the Christian spirit which sub- 
missively encountered them, were long repeated 
from father to son, and from mother to daughter. 

In about six weeks the ship entered the Delaware 
River. The old inhabitants along the shores, which 
had been settled by the whites for about half a cen- 
tury, received Penn with equal respect and joy. He 
arrived at New Castle, on the 27th of October. The 
day was not commemorated by annual observances, 
until the year 1824, when a meeting for that pur- 
pose was held at an inn, in Laetitia Court,* where 
Penn had resided. While the ship and its company 
went up the river, the proprietor, on the next day, 
called the inhabitants, who were principally Dutch 
and Swedes, to the Court-House, where, after ad- 
dressing them, he assumed and received the formal 
possession of the country. He renewed the com- 
missions of the old magistrates, who urged him to 
unite the Territories to his government. 

After a visit of ceremony to the authorities at 
New York and Long Island, with a passing token to 
his friends in New Jersey, Penn went to Upland to 
hold the first Assembly, which opened on the 4th of 
December. Nicholas Moore, an English lawyer, 
and President of the Free Society of Traders, was 
made speaker. After three days' peaceful debate, 
the Assembly ratified, with modifications, the laws 
made in England, with about a score of new ones, of 
a local, moral, or religious character, in which not 

* Watson's " Annals of Philadelphia/' Vol. I. p. 1$. 



WILLIAM PENN 93 

only the drinking of healths, but the talking of scan- 
dal, was forbidden. By suggestion of his friend and 
fellow-voyager Pearson, who came from Chester in 
England, Penn substituted that name for Upland. 
By an Act of Union, passed on the 7th of December, 
the three Lower Counties, or the Territories, were 
joined in the government, and the foreigners were 
naturalized at their own request. 

On his arrival, Penn had sent two messengers to 
Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore, to propose a meet- 
ing and conference with him about their boundaries. 
On the 19th of December,* they met at West River 
with courtesy and kindness; but, after three days, 
they concluded to wait for the more propitious 
weather of the coming year. Penn, on his way 
back, attended a religious meeting at a private house, 
and afterwards an official meeting at Choptank, on 
the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, and reached 
Chester again by the 29th of December, where much 
business engaged him. About twenty-three ships 
had arrived by the close of the year; none of them 
met with disaster, and all had fair passages. The 
newcomers found a comparatively easy sustenance. 
Provisions were obtained at a cheap rate of the In- 
dians, and of the older settlers. But great hard- 
ships were endured by some, and special providences 
are commemorated. Many found their first shelter 
in caves scooped out in the steep bank of the river. 
When these caves were deserted by their first occu- 
pants, the poor or the vicious made them a refuge ; 
and one of the earliest signs both of prosperity and 

* Perm's Letter to the Lords' Committee of Plantations. 



94 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

of corruption in the colony is disclosed in the men- 
tion that these rude coverts of the first devoted emi- 
grants soon became tippling-houses and nuisances, 
in the misuse of the depraved. 

There has been much discussion, of late years, 
concerning the far-famed treaty of Penn with the 
Indians. A circumstance, which has all the interest 
both of fact and of poetry, was confirmed by such 
unbroken testimony of tradition that history seemed 
to have innumerable records of it in the hearts and 
memories of each generation. But as there appears 
no document or parchment of such criteria as to 
satisfy all inquirers, historical scepticism has ven- 
tured upon the absurd length of calling in question 
the fact of the treaty. The Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, with commendable zeal, has bestowed 
much labor upon the questions connected with the 
treaty ; and the results which have been attained can 
scarcely fail to satisfy a candid inquirer. All claim 
to a peculiar distinction for William Penn, on ac- 
count of the singularity of his just proceedings in 
this matter, is candidly waived, because the Swedes, 
the Dutch, and the English, had previously dealt 
thus justly with the natives. It is in comparison 
with Pizarro and Cortes, that the colonists of all 
other nations in America appear to an advantage; 
but the fame of William Penn stands, and ever will 
stand, preeminent for unexceptionable justice and 
peace in his relations with the natives. 

Penn had several meetings for conference and 
treaties with the Indians, besides those which he held 
for the purchase of lands. But unbroken and rever- 



WILLIAM PENN 95 

ently cherished tradition, beyond all possibility of 
contradiction, has designated one Great Treaty, held 
under a large Elm Tree, at Shackamaxon, now Ken- 
sington, a treaty which Voltaire * justly character- 
izes as " never sworn to, and never broken." In 
Penn's Letter to the Free Society of Traders,! dated 
August 1 6th, 1683, he refers to his conferences with 
the Indians. Two deeds, conveying land to him, 
are on record, both of which bear an earlier date 
than this letter, namely, June 23d, and July 14th, of 
the same year.J He had designed to make a pur- 
chase in May; but having been called off to a con- 
ference with Lord Baltimore, he postponed the busi- 
ness till June. The Great Treaty was doubtless un- 
connected with the purchase of land, and was simply 
a treaty of amity and friendship, in confirmation of 
one previously held, by Penn's direction, by Mark- 
ham, on the same spot ; that being a place which the 
Indians were wont to use for this purpose. It is 
probable that the treaty was held on the last of No- 
vember, 1682; that the Delawares, the Mingoes, 
and other Susquehanna tribes, formed a large as- 
sembly on the occasion ; that written minutes of the 
conference were made, and were in possession of 
Governor Gordon, who states nine conditions as be- 
longing to them in 1728, but are now lost, and that 
the substance of the treaty is given in Penn's Letter 

* Dictionnaire Philosophique, word Quaker. 

f Proud and Clarkson. 

% Smith's "Lands," II. p. no. Penn, in his Letter to the 
Lords' Committee of Plantations, says that the Bishop of 
London had counselled him to buy, and not to take away, the 
natives' land. 



$6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

to the Free Traders. These results are satisfactory, 
and are sufficiently corroborated by known facts and 
documents. The Great Treaty, being distinct from 
a land purchase, is significantly distinguished in his- 
tory and tradition.* 

The inventions of romance and imagination could 
scarcely gather around this engaging incident at- 
tractions surpassing its own simple and impressive 
interest. Doubtless Clarkson has given a fair rep- 
resentation of it, if we merely disconnect from his 
account the statement that the Indians were armed, 
and all that confounds the treaty of friendship with 
the purchase of lands. Penn wore a sky blue sash of 
silk around his waist, as the most simple badge. 
The pledges there given were to hold their sanctity 
" while the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, 
moon, and stars endure." 

Whilst the whites preserved in written records the 
memory of such covenants, the Indians had their 
methods for perpetuating in safe channels their own 
relations. They cherished in grateful regard, they 
repeated to their children and to the whites, the 
terms of the Great Treaty. The Delawares called 
William Penn Miquon, in their own language, 
though they seem to have adopted the name given 
him by the Iroquois, Onas; both which terms signify 

* " A Memoir on the History of the celebrated Treaty made 
by William Penn with the Indians, under the Elm Tree at 
Shackamaxon, in the Year 1682. By Peter S. Du Ponceau and 
J. Francis Fisher." " Memoirs of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania," Vol. III. Pt. II. pp. 141-203. This is a model 
for all like efforts to clear the perplexities of history and 
tradition. 



WILLIAM PENN 97 

a quill, or pen. Benjamin West's picture of the 
treaty is too imaginative for an historical piece. He 
makes Penn of a figure and aspect which would be- 
come twice the years that had passed over his head. 
The elm tree was spared in the War of the Ameri- 
can Revolution, when there was distress for fire- 
wood, the British officer, General Simcoe, having 
placed a sentinel beneath it for protection. It was 
prostrated by the wind on the night of Saturday, 
March 3d, 18 10. It was of gigantic size, and the 
circles around its heart indicated an age of nearly 
three centuries. A piece of it was sent to the Penn 
mansion at Stoke Pogis, in England, where it is 
properly commemorated. A marble monument, 
with suitable inscriptions, was " placed by the Penn 
Society, A. D. 1827, to mark the site of the Great 
Elm Tree." Long may it stand! 

Penn then made a visit to his manor of Penns- 
bury, up the Delaware. Under Markham's care, 
the grounds had been arranged, and a stately edifice 
of brick was in process of completion. The place 
had many natural beauties, and is said to have been 
arranged and decorated in consistency both with the 
office and the simple manners of the proprietor. 
There was a hall of audience for Indian embassies 
within, and luxurious gardens without. Hospital- 
ity had here a wide range, and Penn evidently de- 
signed it for a permanent abode.* 

With the help of his surveyor, Thomas Holme, he 

* The mansion fell into decay at an early period, on account 
of the leakage of a large reservoir on the roof, designed as a 
security against fire. 

A. B., VOL. IV. — 7 



98 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

laid out the plan of his now beautiful city, and gave 
it its name of Christian signification, that brotherly 
love might pervade its dwellings. He purchased 
the land where the city stands of the Swedes, who 
already occupied it, and who had purchased it of the 
Indians, though it would seem that a subsequent pur- 
chase was made of the natives of the same site with 
adjacent territory some time afterwards, by Thomas 
Holme, acting as President of the Council, while 
Penn was in England.* The Schuylkill and the 
Delaware Rivers gave to the site eminent attrac- 
tions. The plan was very simple, the streets run- 
ning east and west being designated by numbers, 
those running north and south by the names of trees. 
Provision was made for large squares to be left open, 
and for common water privileges. The building 
was commenced at once, and carried on with great 
zeal.f 

The survey was then extended over the country 
at large. The province and the territories were 
each divided into three counties, those of the prov- 
ince being named Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester, 
those of the territories, New Castle, Kent, and Sus- 
sex. Divisions of townships and lots were then 
made; and with that consideration which Penn al- 

* See a copy of the deed found at Harrisburg, bearing date 
July 30th, 1685. in " Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Historical 
Society," Vol. III. Pt. II. p. 132. 

t A description of the plan of Penn's new town is found in 
a place where it would scarcely have been looked for, namely, 
in Dean Prideaux's " Connection of the Old and New Testa- 
ment History," Vol. I. p. 234, note. He compares the plan to 
that of ancient Babylon, though not intending to carry the 
parallel further. 



WILLIAM PENN 99 

ways exhibited, he reserved a thousand acres for 
George Fox and his heirs. From letters written by 
him about this time, it appears that the Governor was 
equally happy and busy. He enjoyed fine health, 
and found a pure delight in the invigorating labors 
of his hopeful and generous task. 

The proper time having arrived, Penn issued his 
writs for the convening of the Assembly, to be held 
in the Friends' Meeting-house, in Philadelphia, on 
the ioth of March, 1683. The people being busy, 
and no great political anxiety resting upon their 
minds, the required number of delegates did not ap- 
pear; only eighteen members for the Council and 
fifty-four for the Assembly were present.* The 
Governor was informed of the reasons of this, and 
also that the number was thought sufficient in au- 
thority to answer all ends. But lest the failure to 
comply with the requisitions of the constitution, or 
charter, should deprive them of any of their rights, 
the members requested that it might be amended. 
By Penn's permission, a committee of each branch 
was chosen to draw up a new constitution, which 
was approved, signed, and sealed by him, on the 2d 
of April, 1683. By the new instrument, it was pro- 
vided, that three members from each county, eight- 
een in all, should compose the Council, and that 
twice that number, though admitting of increase, 

* By the suggestion and memorial of the Philosophical and 
Historical Societies, the State of Pennsylvania published, in 
two volumes, 8vo. in 1838, the " Minutes of the Provincial 
Council of Pennsylvania, from the Organization to the Ter- 
mination of the Proprietary Government." These volumes 
contain also the original charter, the conditions or concessions, 
and the three frames of government. 

LofC. 



IOO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

should form the Assembly. The Council still re- 
tained its privilege of proposing and originating 
bills.* The treble vote allowed to the Governor in 
the first constitution does not appear in this, though 
the Minutes read as follows : " Consideration aris- 
ing whether the Governor's three voices should stand 
in Provincial Council as by the old charter, the ques- 
tion was put, all ye that are willing that the last 
proposition should stand so as it is, say, Yea. The 
question being put twice, was carried in the affirma- 
tive." f After attending to many matters of inter- 
est in the colony, too trivial to bear repetition now, 
providing a seal for each county, and committing all 
due power to the Council, the Assembly was ad- 
journed by Penn on the 3d of April. 

Judicial proceedings were also instituted in 
March ; a grand and petit jury having been formed. 
Penn and the Council sat as a court. Charles Pick- 
ering and Samuel Buckley, the first offenders, were 
found guilty of coining and passing base money. 
On the 26th of October, 1683, the former was sen- 
tenced to redeem all such coin as should be called in 
for a month, and to pay forty pounds towards the 
erection of a court-house, and the latter to pay ten 
pounds for the same purpose.i: At this time, when 
the witchcraft delusion was universal, we read with 
interest a case which came before the judicious and 
benevolent Governor of Pennsylvania. On the 27th 
of February, 1684, Margaret, the wife of Neels 

* " The Frame of the Government," Article 5th. 

f " Minutes of the Provincial Council," &c. Vol. I. p. 16. 

$" Minutes," &c. Vol. I. p. 33. 



WILLIAM PENN IOI 

Matson, was tried on the charges usually adduced 
against witches of more advanced years. She de- 
nied all the evidence alleged. The jury, having 
been charged by the Governor, " went forth, and, 
upon their return, brought her in guilty of having 
the common fame of a witch, but not guilty in man- 
ner and form as she stands indicted."* Recog- 
nizances of a hundred pounds were required for her 
good behavior for six months. 

Penn took early care for the interests of educa- 
tion; for we find that, in December, 1683, Enoch 
Flower, of Philadelphia, who had been twenty years 
a schoolmaster in England, was employed in the 
same work at reasonable charges. f 

The Governor was occupied at the council board 
with the affairs of the colony and of individuals; 
but he improved every interval of adjournment to 
acquaint himself with public and local interests, es- 
pecially with the territory and the Indians. He un- 
dertook a general tour of exploration to learn the 
products and capacities of the country, and the 
habits of the natives, using all lawful endeavors to 
win their confidence. The results attained by his 
inquiries are given in the before mentioned letter to 
the committee of the Free Society of Traders in 
London, dated in Pennsylvania, August 16th, 1683.J 

* " Minutes," &c. Vol. I. p. 41. 

t Ibid. p. 36. 

t Penn also wrote a letter to the King, dated Philadelphia, 
August 13th, 1683, and one to the Earl of Sunderland, dated 
July 28th, 1683 ; sending with each some presents of the coun- 
try produce. The latter is filled with interesting particulars. 
Markham was the bearer. See " Memoirs of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. II. Pt. I. p. 241-247. 

Still another letter of his, addressed to the Lord-Keeper 



102 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

It appears from this letter that he had learned from 
England reports that he had died, and died a Jesuit 
too. After denying both these reports, he proceeds 
to relate his kind reception in his province, and his 
entire satisfaction with it, to describe its climate, 
advantages, productions, and progress. His fond 
interest in the savages, whom he regards as the 
descendants of the ten tribes, appears in the admi- 
ration which he expresses for their language, the 
pains which he had taken to learn it, and the en- 
thusiasm with which his heart was enlisted in their 
improvement. 

During this his first visit to America, he made 
leagues with nineteen tribes or settlements of In- 
dians, some of whom were within his domains, some 
bordering upon them. The frequent references, 
which Indian chiefs have made, almost down to our 
own day, to the guileless and benevolent Onas, show 
how deep within the hearts of his savage contem- 
poraries he impressed the sense of his virtues, and 
how sacred a tradition they intrusted to their chil- 
dren. We learn enough to satisfy us that the same 
righteous policy, which he pursued, might have com- 
passed the Continent and all its inhabitants. A law 
had been passed forbidding the whites in Pennsyl- 
vania to sell spirituous liquors to the Indians. The 
latter wished for liberty to purchase, though they 
abused, strong waters. They applied to Penn to 
remove the restriction. The Council having given 

North, dated July 24th, and of much the same tenor as that to 
Sunderland, accompanied by presents, and borne by Markham, 
is in " Memoirs," &c, Vol. I. Pt. II. p. 411. 



WILLIAM PENN IO3 

him power to act, he called some of the Indians to 
him, and offered to withdraw the prohibition to sell 
liquors to them, if they, on their part, would consent 
to receive the punishments inflicted on the whites for 
drunkenness. The Indians acceded to the terms. 

The difficulty with Lord Baltimore, about the 
boundary, was a matter of vexation and expense to 
William Penn. They met in May, 1683, ten miles 
from New Castle; and, as both claimed the same 
tract south of the fortieth degree, and grounded the 
claim upon royal patents, they could not decide their 
dispute. It was an unsatisfactory meeting, and 
Penn does not scruple to impugn the fairness of his 
noble antagonist. Penn wrote to the Lords Com- 
missioners of Plantations to state his case,* on the 
14th of August, 1683, Lord Baltimore having pre- 
viously done the same. The latter sent his agent, 
Colonel Talbot, with a letter to Penn, which Penn 
answered ; and while he was on a visit to New York, 
in September, 1683, Lord Baltimore had proposed 
to make a forcible entrance upon the lower counties. 
Hearing of this, on his return, Penn protested, by a 
letter written on the 4th of October, and called his 
Council together. An agent was then sent to Lord 
Baltimore, with a copy of Penn's former letter, to 
be put into his own hands. Colonel Talbot still in- 
sisting upon forcing possession, the Pennsylvania 

* Proud, Vol. I. p. 267. Penn also wrote, on the 2d of Feb- 
ruary, 1684, to the Earl of Rochester, and on the 9th of Feb- 
ruary, 1684, to the Marquis of Halifax, some particulars of his 
controversy with Lord Baltimore. The letters are in the 
" Memoirs of Historical Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. I. Pt. 
II. p. 414-422. 



104 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

government issued a declaration of their rights. It 
was evident that the dispute must be referred directly 
to the monarch, and settled, if settled at all, by him. 
Penn therefore resolved to return to England. An- 
other consideration, which moved him to this step, 
whether of greater or less importance in his own 
mind, was a feeling of obligation to interpose in be- 
half of his fellow-Quakers, who were then suffering 
the heaviest inflictions of persecution in the courts 
and prisons of England. He knew he could do 
more for their relief, than any other fellow-subject. 
He wished also to meet and answer the calumnies 
of his enemies. 

Penn visited New York and New Jersey, and had 
many preparations to make before he could embark. 
The General Assembly met at New Castle, on the 
ioth of May, 1684, an d despatched some business. 
Besides taking his part in this, he preached at va- 
rious meetings for worship, he settled religious dis- 
cipline among Friends in Pennsylvania and the Jer- 
seys, he formed treaties and increased his acquaint- 
ance with the Indians, and quieted many local 
disputes about lots and river privileges. He made 
arrangements for the government while he should be 
absent, intrusting it to the Council, with Thomas 
Lloyd, a Quaker minister from Wales, as president, 
and he provided for other matters, civil and judicial. 
He sat in council at Sussex, on the 14th of August, 
1684, and soon after embarked on board the ketch 
Endeavor for England. Before sailing, he wrote a 
letter of farewell counsels, affectionate and wise, to 
be read at Friends' meetings, of which we learn, by 



William penn 105 

a letter of his to the wife of George Fox, that there 
were, at this time, eighteen in the province. 

He had witnessed high prosperity, and the prom- 
ises of yet greater all around him, beneath the gentle 
influences of his government. He had, for the most 
part, industrious, pure, and religious men and 
women for his helpers. When he returned to Eng- 
land, there were about seven thousand people and 
three hundred houses on his patent. 



CHAPTER IX 

Penn arrives in England. — He intercedes for the Quakers. — 
James the Second. — Penn's Court Influence. — Calumnies 
against him. — Intercedes for Locke. — Correspondence with 
Tillotson. — Travels on the Continent. — Interviews with the 
Prince of Orange. — Burnet. — Penn's Ministry in England. — 
Oxford. — Writings.— Penn's Vindication. — Letter to Pop- 
ple. — The Revolution. — Penn's repeated Arrests, Examina- 
tions, and Acquittals. — Seeks Retirement. — His Troubles. — 
Deprived of his Government. 

Penn arrived in England on the 6th of October, 
1684, finding happiness in the health of his family 
and the welcome of many friends. He went at once 
to the King and the Duke, about his own pressing 
concerns, and to intercede for his suffering fellow- 
believers. He was successful in bringing his diffi- 
culties with Lord Baltimore to a temporary settle- 
ment, though, as the event proved, it was only tem- 
porary, the decision of a boundary question being 
then beset with geographical as well as personal ob- 
stacles. The Committee of Plantations, after a full 
hearing of the parties, divided the territory in dis- 
pute into two parts, giving to Lord Baltimore the 
part upon the Chesapeake, and allowing the remain- 
der to relapse to the crown, though intended for 
Penn.* 

* A Memoir of the whole controversy between Penn and 
Lord Baltimore, and their heirs, is given in " Memoirs of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. I. p. 159-196, by 
James Dunlop. 

106 



WILLIAM PENN \OJ 

The long period, which now elapsed before the 
Governor was permitted to visit his colony again, 
was one of strange public agitation ; and Penn's for- 
tunes present a fair representation of the varying 
states of the kingdom at large. Between the sum- 
mit of court favor and repeated imprisonments as a 
suspected traitor, he was led through as remarkable 
a train of vicissitudes as ever checkered the lot of 
any public man who escaped a scaffold. 

The brief limits of this biography will not allow 
of much detail, but must embrace here a sketch of 
Penn's experience in Europe, reserving the affairs 
of Pennsylvania for subsequent notice. 

Penn pleaded successfully with the King in behalf 
of his persecuted brethren, and he obtained the 
promise of entire relief for them at an early period. 
He met the malicious charges of his enemies, and 
seemed to have the prospect of a felicitous result in 
his various undertakings. The death of Charles the 
Second, on the 6th of February, 1685, of which 
Penn gives some curious particulars, in a letter to 
Thomas Lloyd,* so far as it affected his interests 
at all, seemed to advance them. James the Second, 
who ascended the throne, had been the pupil of his 
father, and was his own pledged friend. Penn took 
lodgings at Kensington, to be near the court, where 
he was constant in his attendance. His influence 
was such, that, at times, two hundred persons are 
said to have been in waiting at his gate, to ask his 
intercession in their behalf. 

Until very recently, the admirers and apologists 
* In Proud and Clarkson. 



108 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

of William Penn have felt bound to account for and 
excuse his intimacy and influence with the Popish 
James, as if the bare fact, that the liberal Protestant 
dissenter, the advocate of entire freedom of con- 
science, should have admittance to the privacy and 
counsels of a most arbitrary monarch, was enough 
to throw suspicion upon his integrity. But the full 
light, which has now been cast upon the tortuous 
policy and the corrupt designs of that court, has 
displayed the unstained sincerity and the singleness 
of heart of William Penn. He knew that the King 
was a Roman Catholic ; but he thought he might be 
taught liberality, and he used all his influence to 
plead for the liberty of all. The charge against 
Penn. spoken in his own ears by friends and foes, 
and reiterated from the pages of Burnet and others 
ever since, is, that for the sake of securing indul- 
gence for the Quakers, he approved the arbitrary 
and illegal proceedings of the monarch in usurping 
the power of Parliament. That monarch aimed to 
remove all penalties from the Roman Catholics ; he 
could gain his end only by including them under the 
general title of dissenters, and then extending over 
them all the large mantle of a Stuart prerogative. 
But most of the Protestant dissenters were as much 
opposed to the relief of the Roman Catholics, as 
were the members of the Established Church of 
England. 

Hence arose the enmity against Penn, which, when 
spoken in the form of accusations, condemned him 
from some lips for treason against the State, and 
from others for being a Jesuit in disguise, plotting 



WILLIAM PENN IO9 

with the monarch against the Protestant religion. 
A calmer and wiser judgment has discovered that 
there was room for an honest man even in those 
times, and that William Penn occupied it with a 
calm courage and a good conscience. There were 
other reasons to explain his private intimacy with 
the monarch; but his worst enemy could detect no 
instance in which he used his influence for corrupt, 
or even for personal, ends. Yet all the influence 
which he had with James, was, at the time, to his 
public disrepute. He was suspected by the most 
honest, and was openly calumniated by the mali- 
cious. The master mind of Sir James Mackintosh 
has unravelled some of the intricacies of that period, 
has painted the scenes then acted, and has studied 
the motives and methods of each mover in them. 
That eminent moralist and statesman has awarded to 
Penn the most honorable distinctions of purity and 
magnanimity which his fondest friend could ask. 

A paragraph from this writer may be here copied 
as sufficient to explain Penn's position, while it sub- 
stantiates his integrity. After having spoken of 
William Penn as " a man of such virtue as to make 
his testimony weighty," Sir James Mackintosh says, 
" The very occupations in which he was engaged 
brought daily before his mind the general evils of 
intolerance, and the sufferings of his own unfortu- 
nate brethren. Though well stored with useful and 
ornamental knowledge, he was unpracticed in the 
wiles of courts; and his education had not trained 
him to dread the violation of principle, so much as 
to pity the infliction of suffering. It cannot be 



110 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

doubted that he believed the King's object to be 
universal liberty in religion, and nothing further; 
and as his own sincere piety taught him to consider 
religious liberty as unspeakably the highest of 
human privileges, he was too just not to be desirous 
of bestowing on all other men that which he most 
earnestly sought for himself. One, who refused to 
employ force in the most just defence, must have felt 
a singular abhorrence of its exertion to prevent good 
men from following the dictates of their conscience. 
Such seem to have been the motives, which induced 
this excellent man to lend himself to the measures 
of the King. Compassion, friendship, liberality, 
and toleration, led him to support a system, [mean- 
ing the encroachments of the royal prerogative,] the 
success of which would have undone his country; 
and he afforded a remarkable proof, that in the com- 
plicated combinations of political morality, a virtue 
misplaced may produce as much immediate mischief 
as a vice." * 

Penn first exercised his benevolent spirit with the 
King by interceding for his college companion, John 
Locke, who had followed Shaftesbury in his forced 
exile into Holland, after losing his fellowship in 
Christ Church, Oxford. He obtained permission 
for Locke to return ; but the philosopher would not 
so far admit his criminality as to receive a pardon. 

Popular rumor designated Penn as a Papist and a 
Jesuit. Some verses, condoling the late King's 
death, and congratulating the accession of his 

* " Review of the Causes of the Revolution of 1688." " Mis- 
cellaneous Work," American edition, p. 334. 



WILLIAM PENN III 

brother, were circulated with the initials of William 
Perm attached to them, and were ascribed to him, 
in connection with a foolish report of his attending 
mass. This led him, in April, 1685, to write from 
Worminghurst, and to publish a sheet, entitled 
" Fiction found out," addressed to the members of 
his religious society, to rebut the idle charge. He 
also had a pleasant and effective correspondence 
with his friend, Dr. Tillotson, afterwards Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, who, having dropped some 
suspicious remark about Penn's Popery, was kindly 
addressed by the Quaker, as one whom he esteemed 
" the first of his robe." He gave satisfaction to 
Dr. Tillotson, together with sufficient authority for 
denying the rumor to others. That eminent divine, 
after expressing his regret for a temporary aliena- 
tion, provided Penn, in the closing letter, with a 
sort of affidavit, which would prove satisfactory to 
any reasonable man, and the friends renewed their 
visits. The curious reader who may peruse the cor- 
respondence will observe that Penn, in the exercise 
of a courtesy which he never found to be inconsis- 
tent with his peculiar views, uses circumlocutions to 
avoid the thee and thou in addressing Tillotson. 

Penn has been impugned for being a spectator of 
the execution of the excellent Mrs. Gaunt, who suf- 
fered for an act of benevolence in harboring one of 
Monmouth's rebels. His motives for witnessing a 
scene, which he could not prevent, were doubtless 
such as have led many wise and good men to watch 
and study such spectacles. 

Penn was at this time concerned in a transaction, 



ii2 American biography 

which, without further knowledge of the particulars, 
we cannot but regard as somewhat discreditable to 
him. Some young women of Taunton had pre- 
sented a stand of colors and a Bible to the Duke of 
Monmouth. While some, who had been directly 
or indirectly concerned in that rebellion, paid the 
heaviest penalties, it was found a lucrative business 
to clear others by fines. These Taunton sympathiz- 
ers were allowed such a relief, and the maids of 
honor, who were to receive the money, were of 
course interested to swell the amount. Penn was 
an agent between these parties, and received instruc- 
tions from the maids of honor, " to make the most 
advantageous composition he could in their behalf/'* 
Doubtless toleration, lenity, and the desire to save 
life, interested Penn in an agency from which he 
reaped no personal advantage. 

In 1686, he published " A Further Account of 
Pennsylvania," extending his previous publication, 
with the results of his own inquiries and observa- 
tions. He resumed likewise a work, which he can 
scarcely be said to have ever discontinued, namely, 
writing in defence of religious liberty. The Duke 
of Buckingham had published a book in support of 
liberty of conscience. An anonymous reviewer had 
embraced a reflection upon Penn, in an attack upon 
this book, saying of the Duke, that " the Pennsyl- 
vanian had entered him with his Quakeristical doc- 
trines." This led Penn to publish " A Defence of 
the Duke of Buckingham's Book from the Excep- 

*Lord Sunderland to William Penn, 13th of February, 1686; 
cellaneous Works," American edition, p. 334. 



WILLIAM PENN 113 

tions of a nameless Author," and, immediately after, 
" A Persuasive to Moderation to dissenting Chris- 
tians, in Prudence and Conscience, humbly sub- 
mitted to the King and his great Council." In this 
work, as in others before it, Penn, with great learn- 
ing and with good logic, met the objections to com- 
plete toleration, and illustrated from history, reason, 
and sound justice, its good effects in ancient and 
modern times. However much or little influence 
these treatises may have had on the court, they were 
soon followed by a proclamation from the King and 
Council for the release of those imprisoned on ac- 
count of religion. The chief desire of the King, 
doubtless, was to relieve the Roman Catholics; but 
the only method, and that too an unlawful one, 
by which he could do this, eased all other dis- 
senters. Twelve hundred Quakers were among the 
large number, who shared the benefits of this 
proclamation. 

William Penn, being about to start upon a con- 
tinental tour in the exercise of his ministry, was 
commissioned incidentally, by the King, to confer 
with the Prince of Orange, at the Hague, and to in- 
duce him to favor a general toleration in England, 
with a removal of all religious tests. Burnet was 
there, at the same time, using his influence to retain 
the tests. Here Penn had several interviews with 
the Prince and Burnet, but could not succeed, as he 
found his royal listener more earnest for Protestant- 
ism than for liberty. Even Burnet, as his readers 
well know, regarded Penn as a suspicious man, in- 
triguing and conniving with James solely for the 

A. B., VOL. IV.— 8 



114 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

benefit of the Roman Catholics. But Penn honestly 
regarded the King as a friend to entire liberty in 
religion ; and only in that belief did he act with him 
and for him. Penn used his interest successfully to 
obtain a permission to return to England for the 
exiled Presbyterians and other fugitives, Scotch and 
English, at the Hague, who had opposed the illegal 
act of indulgence. He then extended his tour over 
Holland and Germany, making acquaintance with 
William Sewell, the historian of the Quakers; and, 
returning to England, he pursued the same minis- 
terial work over the counties adjoining his own. 

In April, 1687, the King followed his proclama- 
tion by a declaration of liberty of conscience to all, 
which removed all tests and penalties. This decla- 
ration the monarch made on his own responsibility, 
though he promised to have it legalized by an early 
call of a Parliament, and also to protect the legal 
rights of the Church of England. Mackintosh says 
of this bold act of the monarch, " There is no other 
example, perhaps, of so excellent an object being 
pursued by means so culpable, or for purposes in 
which evil was so much blended with good." 

The Quakers rejoiced in an edict, which brought 
them relief from the most aggravating burdens and 
inflictions. Having no principle which forbade 
them to share a blessing in common with Papists and 
all others, they drew up an address to the King, at 
their yearly meeting, which Penn presented with a 
speech of his own. The King, in his answer pro- 
fessed a sincere attachment to the great principle of 
religious toleration. The Episcopalians, and the 



WILLIAM PENN 115 

bodies of Protestant dissenters, with few exceptions, 
were outraged at this merciful, though illegal, edict 
of the monarch, and visited their indignation upon 
the Papists and Quakers alike. 

Penn then undertook another ministerial tour in 
England, in the course of which he frequently met 
with King James on his progresses, and was flat- 
tered, if susceptible to flattery, (and perhaps he was 
as a man, though not as a Quaker,) by having the 
monarch several times as a listener or worshipper at 
the meetings in which he preached. Yet, while they 
were thus meeting in their travels, Penn went to Ox- 
ford, while James was there, and, by a plain letter to 
the King, resisted his arbitrary attempts to place 
Parker, Bishop of Oxford, who from an Indepen- 
dent had become a Roman Catholic, over Magdalen 
College, and to remove the fellows who negatived 
and thwarted this purpose. 

It is not among the least remarkable of the 
changeful experiences of Penn's life, that the learned 
academicians, from whose society he had been 
ejected as a young heretic, did not scruple to send a 
committee to him to implore his intercession with 
the King in their behalf. He had interviews and 
correspondence with their delegates, but he could not 
bend the will of the King in this matter ; and his dis- 
appointed applicants joined in the suspicion that he 
secretly justified and abetted the arbitrary proceed- 
ings of the monarch. He certainly did give the 
whole weight of his influence in favor of the King's 
declaration of indulgence, which was almost uni- 
versally regarded as a covert attempt to promote 



Il6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Popery. Thus the popular feeling against Penn be- 
came rancorous. This was further imbittered by a 
publication, which, for the sake of relieving it from 
the prejudice attached to his name, he published 
anonymously, entitled " Good Advice to the Church 
of England, and Roman Catholic and Protestant 
Dissenters ; in which it is endeavored to be made ap- 
pear, that it is their Duty, Principle, and Interest, to 
abolish the penal Laws and Tests." This he fol- 
lowed by " The Great and Popular Objection against 
the Repeal of the Penal Laws briefly stated and con- 
sidered." Reason, arguments, and evidence are ad- 
duced, and well nigh exhausted in these works, to 
prove what is now a self-evident proposition, though 
it was then obscured by passion and policy, as well 
as by popular error and mistaken wisdom. 

The renewal of the King's Declaration of In- 
dulgence, and an order of Council that it should be 
read in churches, though a promise was given that 
Parliament should speedily be called to ratify it, con- 
centrated the opposition from all quarters, and 
brought it to decisive action. The Archbishop of 
Canterbury, with six of the Bishops, came before the 
King with a protest in the shape of a petition, and 
were imprisoned. Penn was even supposed to have 
advised the harsh measure against them. His 
anonymous authorship was known and charged upon 
him, as well as his mission to the Hague. Indeed, 
he was identified with the monarch ; nor can we see 
how it could have been otherwise, for popular indig- 
nation ofttimes has not such distinct shadows from 
which to construct substances. Great popular 



WILLIAM PENN H7 

clamor ensued; the Episcopalians and the mass of 
Protestant dissenters were equally outraged, and the 
Papists meanwhile freely spoke their hopes. 

William Popple, secretary to the Lords Commis- 
sioners of Trade and Plantations, wrote a long letter 
to Perm, who was his intimate friend, to obtain from 
him an explicit denial of the charges of having been 
educated at St. Omer's, of having received orders at 
Rome, of officiating as priest at Whitehall, in the 
mass, with a dispensation allowing him to be mar- 
ried, and like absurd accusations. Penn, in a letter 
dated October 24th, 1688, answered Mr. Popple at 
length; and in a most admirable and gentle spirit, 
with beauty and force of language, he gives all these 
charges a thorough and well proved denial; only a 
man with a clean breast could have written his reply. 

In the next month, the political aspect was wholly 
changed. William of Orange came to England, and 
James fled to France. The Revolution brought real 
danger to Penn, and he would not so far allow sus- 
picion as to escape from it by returning to his Ameri- 
can province. He was at once called before the 
Council, on the 10th of December, 1688, and, after 
protesting his innocence in all his conduct through 
the late reign, he entered into bonds for his appear- 
ance at the next term. He appeared again at the 
Easter term, in 1689, and, as no person or evidence 
confronted him, he was discharged. He rejoiced 
over the Toleration Act, which was now passed. 
And who had better reason to rejoice? Who more 
than he, among the living or the dead, then had done 
more to secure that measure, which was not, even in 



Il8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

its full meaning, so much as the first syllable of 
justice? 

For a brief interval after his discharge, Penn was 
comparatively at liberty to go to America, without 
subjecting himself to increased suspicion. The tid- 
ings thence, as we shall soon see, had not been of the 
most agreeable kind to the proprietor ; but he delayed 
going that he might watch the operation of an ex- 
periment which he was trying there. Yet he was 
doomed to defer his second visit much longer than 
he desired. A friendly letter to him from the exiled 
James, requesting him to come and see him in 
France, was intercepted. Penn was arrested in con- 
sequence, and, being brought before the Council, he 
requested that he might have a hearing in presence 
of King William. His request was granted. He 
stood a long examination protesting his entire inno- 
cence, expressing his love for James, though he did 
not approve his policy, and alleging that he could not 
prevent the exiled monarch from writing to him if 
he saw fit. William, being satisfied of Penn's entire 
innocence of all traitorous designs, was willing to 
release him from all restraint; but, some of the 
Council advising more caution, he again gave bail 
for his appearance. He then resumed his prepara- 
tions for America, and while pursuing them, the 
time came for him to answer to his recognizances. 
No one appearing against him, he was again dis- 
charged. 

% Wearied with five years of painful and harassing 
conflict against oppression in one or another form, 
Penn would at this time have gladly sought repose in 



WILLIAM PENN II9 

his colony; but other trials awaited him. ■ The 
friends of James kept the nation, and indeed all 
Christian Europe, in a ferment. The French fleet was 
in the Channel ; William was in Ireland. The Queen 
called on the militia, and issued a proclamation, 
on the 1 8th of July, 1690, bearing the names of cer- 
tain alleged conspirators, including Penn. He was 
apprehended and imprisoned. At Michaelmas term, 
he was carried before the Court of King's Bench, 
tried, and acquitted. He now determined to leave 
England behind him, at least till more quiet times. 
It was extremely important, at this juncture, that he 
should be in Pennsylvania, which was distracted by 
misgovernment. The vessels prepared by him, with 
more passengers, were ready to sail ; a government 
convoy was engaged ; Penn staid to watch the dying 
hours of George Fox, to write a letter of Christian 
sympathy to the widow, and to bear testimony, in 
public meeting, to the honored and faithful life of 
his friend. 

That arrant impostor, William Fuller, who was 
soon afterwards unmasked and committed to the 
pillory in his true character, had made oath against 
Penn as a traitor. He was to have been arrested 
on the 1 6th of January, 1691, while at the funeral of 
George Fox; but the officers were too late by an 
hour. Not feeling bound to subject himself to the 
discomfort and annoyance of a third public prosecu- 
tion on the same false charge, nor to surrender him- 
self voluntarily to bear testimony to his innocence, 
as he would have done in anything that concerned 
his religion, Penn avoided public view, and took a 



120 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

private and retired lodging in London. He would 
not flee from justice, neither would he court another 
arrest. He kept himself ready to be found by those 
who might seek him. The vessels sailed, bearing 
letters and directions from him to Pennsylvania. 

Another proclamation, founded on Fuller's charge, 
was issued against him in 1691, as having conspired 
with others to bring over James from France to his 
throne. This was the darkest period of life to this 
pure and devoted Christian man. All his former 
friends, exalted and humble, with but few exceptions, 
seemed to turn against him. Even the members of 
his religious Society, who had received from him 
services greater than from any other man, were 
alienated from him and suspected him. He wrote 
a gentle but earnest letter to their Yearly Meeting, 
on the 30th of May, 1691, to clear himself in their 
eyes. Locke, now in prosperity again, offered to 
reciprocate the favor which Penn had essayed to per- 
form for him in obtaining a pardon. It is remark- 
able that Penn, in his own way, returned substantial- 
ly the same answer which he had received from 
Locke; he would not accept a pardon for that of 
which he was innocent. 

While Penn was thus in forced retirement, he was 
cheered by the visit of a few faithful friends, whose 
confidence no popular clamor and no temporary dis- 
trust could weaken. He employed himself laborious- 
ly with his pen, and, besides writing prefaces to the 
works of Robert Barclay, ore of his former asso- 
ciates in the management of Jersey, and of John 
Burnyeat, he likewise published a small work, " Just 



WILLIAM PENN 121 

Measures, being an Epistle of Peace and Love to 
such Professors of Truth, as are under Dissatisfac- 
tion about the Order practiced in the Church of 
Christ." This treatise was designed to restore har- 
mony in his Society, and to vindicate the right and 
liberty of its female members to have meetings by 
themselves for some business. A periodical, called 
The Athenian Mercury had attacked the princi- 
ples of the Quakers, and Penn, still in retirement, 
replied, in 1692, in his work, " The New Athenians 
no noble Bereans." To these fruits of his more re- 
tired years is to be added yet another controversial 
and explanatory treatise, in answer to some perver- 
sions of his views by the Baptists, entitled " A Key, 
opening the Way to every Capacity how to distin- 
guish the Religion professed by the People called 
Quakers from the Perversions and Misrepresenta- 
tions of their Adversaries ; with a brief Exhortation 
to all Sorts of People to examine their Ways and 
their Hearts, and turn speedily to the Lord." 

The letters which he wrote at this period, so far 
as several of them still preserved would indicate, 
show how a manly and Christian heart supported 
him under his trials.* In two letters to Lord Rom- 
ney, and one to Lord Rochester, intended for the 
King's eye, he asserts his entire innocence of deed, 
word, and wish, in reference to all charges of which 
he was accused. There is expressed in them a con- 
scious dignity of soul, which is not only a guaranty 

* Four letters, written by Penn at this time, may be found in 
the " Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," 
Vol. IV. Pt. I. pp. 192-200. 



122 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

of innocence, but a preventive of the use of such 
means of vindicating it as some of less magnanimity 
would feel free to employ. 

To the unavoidable anxiety, which his situation 
must have occasioned to him, was now added the 
dangerous illness of his wife, the love of his youth, 
and the attached sharer of his religious views, and 
of his devoted efforts for the welfare of others. It 
would seem that he was separated from her, as she 
was then in the country. 

Thus beset with various and oppressive trials, and 
greatly embarrassed in his pecuniary affairs, and 
while longing for an honorable delivery, that he 
might go to America, or attend upon his wife, sink- 
ing in a decline, such representations of the disor- 
dered state of the colony were brought to England, 
as, aggravated by enemies, led to an act of great 
injustice toward Penn. He was deprived of his 
government, without having an opportunity to with- 
stand the measure. 



CHAPTER X 

Pennsylvania during the Absence of the Proprietor. — Vice and 
Dissensions. — Penn's Letters. — Changes in the Government. 
— Deputy-Governor Blackwell. — Lloyd and Markham. — Se- 
dition in the Territories. — Religious Dissensions. — George 
Keith. — Penn's Troubles. — His Labors for his Province 
when deprived of it. — Governor Fletcher appointed. — He de- 
mands military Supplies. — Penn liberated. — His Wife dies. — 
He is reinstated. — His second Marriage. — His Son dies. — 
Ministry. — Embarks again for America. 

Immediately after Penn's arrival in England 
after leaving his colony in 1684, the information 
which he received from it in private letters gave him 
anxiety. It had indeed the elements of high pros- 
perity, and he knew that men of integrity, devoted 
to his interests, were there to sustain the right. A col- 
ony of Germans had given the name of Germantown 
to a thriving settlement, which they had founded 
near Philadelphia, in 1685-6, and vessels continually 
arrived to reinforce the older plantations. But vice 
already had its agents and temptations among a peo- 
ple, who, generally speaking, were probably the most 
sober, industrious, and virtuous community ever 
gathered on earth. By letters, which passed between 
Penn and his correspondents, it appears that the 
caves on the river's bank, which the first settlers had 
scooped out and defended with boughs for temporary 
shelter, had become places of lewdness and intem- 

123 



124 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

perance, and that tippling houses were numerous. 
In a spirit of earnest expostulation, the proprietor 
wrote that these alarming evils should be at once 
withstood, and he at the same time rebuked the ex- 
tortions in the sale of lands, and the excesses of his 
surveyor, Holme, who had charged upon purchasers 
some expensive drinking festivals. 

But more general causes of trouble soon appeared. 
The different branches of government did not har- 
monize with each other, nor with the judiciary. 
There were, indeed, some irreconcilable elements in 
the composition of the population itself, which led 
to some collision between the natural tempers and 
the supposed rights of the Quakers on the one hand, 
and the Dutch and Swedes on the other. Nicholas 
Moore, President of the Free Society of Traders, a 
member of the Council and of the Assembly, and 
also Chief-Justice, was impeached by the Council, 
on the 15th of May, 1685. He was accused of va- 
rious high crimes and misdemeanors, under eleven 
specifications.* No moral charge is embraced in 
them; but he seems to have been passionate, and to 
have resisted the alterations and measures proposed 
in the Council. He was not a Quaker. Patrick 
Robinson, clerk of the Provincial Court, was ordered 
to produce the records of that tribunal in proof of 
the charges against Moore. This he refused to do, 
and was imprisoned, while Moore was expelled from 
the Assembly, and, declining to answer to the sum- 
mons of the Council, was driven from his seat as 
judge. 

*The accusations against Moore are given at length in " Min- 
utes of the Council," Vol. I. pp. 84, 85, 



WILLIAM PENN 12 5 

Perm, on receiving this disagreeable information, 
wrote over, counselling moderation and forbear- 
ance. He complained, too, of great injustice done to 
himself, his supply and his quit-rents being with- 
held. He had already lost by the colony more than 
six thousand pounds, and was too much embarrassed 
to be able to visit it. Being satisfied that the Pro- 
vincial Council was too large, and its members too 
irregular in their attendance, for an effective execu- 
tive body, he appointed, in its stead, five commission- 
r-s as the executive. Nicholas Moore was one of 
these, making it evident that the proprietor had not 
lost his confidence in him. The instructions * to the 
commissioners, dated February, 1687, give them the 
executive power, in place of the Council, their doings 
to be subject to Penn's confirmation. They demand 
order and regularity in attendance, that all laws 
passed during his absence should be annulled, that 
the Assembly should be dismissed and then recalled, 
and that such of the above laws as were good should 
be reenacted. Thus the government consisted of 
three bodies, the Commissioners, the Council, and 
the Assembly. 

Penn wrote again in June, instructing the com- 
missioners to enforce the impost act, for the support 
of government. He had refused an export duty free- 
ly offered him by the Assembly, but, in 1684, had 
accepted a small duty on wines and spirituous liquors. 
He complains of the neglect to furnish him with 
official information in attested and authoritative 
documents; and again, with tempered though posi- 
* Given by Proud, Vol. I. p. 305. 



126 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

tive expostulation, he refers to the deep sense of in- 
jury which he suffered in the withholding of all his 
dues, while his quit-rents, to which he was so honest- 
ly entitled, amounted to five hundred pounds a year. 
Thomas Lloyd, also, in whom he reposed much con- 
fidence, was weary of his office as president of the 
Council, and was anxious to resign it. Penn released 
him, though unwillingly. 

In 1688, the proprietor reduced the number of 
commissioners from five to three, designing to have 
a Deputy-Governor and two assistants, and intend- 
ing the former office for Thomas Lloyd. He, how- 
ever, persisted in declining it, and Penn could find no 
Quaker qualified and willing to assume it. Through 
an interview which he had with the wife of Captain 
Thomas Blackwell, in England, Penn was induced 
to commit the trust to him. He was not a Friend, 
but had been treasurer of the Commonwealth's army, 
and, as such, much honored. He was in Boston 
when he received his commission and instructions 
from Penn, dated September 25th, 1688,* but went 
to Philadelphia at the end of the year, and met the 
Assembly in May, 1689. 

Penn hoped that Governor Blackwell would have 
great influence, and would exert it wisely and effec- 
tively. He instructed him to collect the quit-rents, 
and gave him prudent directions about the laws, the 
roads, and other concerns. But the distractions, 
which already existed, continued. The great seal 
was refused to Blackwell, so that his laws could not 
be ratified ; he was in constant collision with the other 
* These are given in Proud, Vol. I. p. 339. 



WILLIAM PENN 127 

officers, and, as Penn tried in vain to appease the 
strife, he advised Blackwell to resign, which he did, 
and returned to England, after having governed but 
a few months. He was of gentlemanly, and perhaps 
of haughty manners, used to military methods, and 
probably very earnest in demanding the quit-rents, 
and in pressing his authority. He therefore gave 
offence to the Quakers, and alienated others. 

All these strifes contributed to weaken respect for 
the proprietor himself, as if an absent governor was 
to be blamed for all the mismanagement of his depu- 
ties, while he was the greatest sufferer. On the 
resignation of Blackwell, the executive reverted to 
the Council, and Lloyd resumed the presidency. 
Penn gave his approbation to this state of things, and 
most earnestly advised conciliatory and peaceful 
measures. He directed Lloyd to set up a grammar 
school in Philadelphia ; and accordingly the Friends' 
Public School was founded in 1689. George Keith, 
who soon became a source of infinite trouble in the 
colony, was then highly esteemed, and was its first 
master. Penn was compelled to remain in England, 
in retirement, at this juncture, when his presence in 
the colony was so much needed, and to exercise his 
influence by writing only. 

A new and alarming difficulty, which had been 
long in preparation, now presented itself, in the form 
of a seditious movement on the part of the Terri- 
tories, or the three Lower Counties. Though in- 
corporated with the province under one government, 
the incongruous elements of population, prejudice, 
and interest could not be harmonized. The territo- 



128 American biography 

ries wished to have separate magistrates and officers, 
and to choose them for themselves. Their members 
in the Council met illegally, and undertook to legis- 
late; but their work was undone. Great confusion 
ensued, and the councillors from the territories pro- 
posed a bill, authorizing six of their number, of nine, 
to appoint all their officers. This request, being sub- 
mitted to Penn, offended him. He, however, offered 
to the province and territories their free choice of 
either of the three executive methods, which had been 
already tried, by council, commissioners, or deputy- 
governor. The province preferred a deputy-gov- 
ernor ; but this was the least acceptable method to the 
territories, which objected to being burdened with 
his support. They preferred commissioners; but 
rather than the country should be without a govern- 
ment, they were willing to give the power to the 
Council, provided that no officers were imposed upon 
them without the consent of their members in it. 
Lloyd wrote to them that he, as deputy, would free 
them from all burden for his support. The territo- 
ries could not be brought to terms with the province, 
and therefore Lloyd, on the ioth of May, 1691, as- 
sumed the government of the latter, and Markham, 
the secretary, took a corresponding office in the terri- 
tories. Penn acquiesced with reluctance in this re- 
sult, sending commissions accordingly, and wrote to 
Lloyd, expressing displeasure with him for being 
willing to accept half of a government. But the 
Council, in an official letter to the proprietary, wholly 
exculpated Lloyd from any blame in his proceedings. 
The two Deputies united in writing a letter to Penn, 



WILLIAM PENN 129 

and the territories were so much pleased with having 
their civil administration to themselves, that a good 
peace seemed to be purchased at the expense of a 
divided and ruptured government. 

A new and most vexatious cause of disturbance 
now presented itself to divide the colony by a re- 
ligious feud, as it had been divided by politics, only 
with tenfold more of acrimony. George Keith, who, 
for many years, had been a distinguished preacher 
and controversial writer among the Friends, a man 
of much learning, and of strong passions, brought 
about a schism in his Society, with all its disastrous 
consequences. He began by endeavoring to amend 
and make more rigid the discipline of the Society; 
and then he attacked some of its most eminent lead- 
ers with the charge of heresy in doctrine. He gave 
great offence by wearing his hat while a zealous 
preacher was at prayer, and by showing " a brittle 
temper " when opposed by any one. All the private 
and public conferences, which were designed by the 
most gentle means to curb his spirit and address his 
better feelings, were ineffectual, and resulted only in 
giving him opportunities to draw a party to his side. 
It would be difficult now to form a perfectly fair 
opinion about the merits of the schism; but Keith 
had several supporters among Friends of the highest 
standing, whom, however, he soon lost, though, even 
after his ejection from the Society, he had a crowded 
meeting of his own. He opposed the exercise of 
force in civil government; and, from objecting to the 
arrest of a pirate, he proceeded to libel the magis- 
trates in print, for which offence he was tried and 

A. B.,VOL. IV. —9 



130 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

fined. After much disputation, he was disowned by 
Friends, at a meeting on the 20th of June, 1692, who, 
in their testimony against him, after referring to 
their " tedious exercise, and vexatious perplexity, ,, 
made out a very clear case against him. Their act 
was confirmed by the Yearly Meeting, in the follow- 
ing September. Keith then appealed to the General 
Meeting, at London, and Penn, until more fully in- 
formed, was inclined to his side; but there the pro- 
ceedings against him were ratified. He then ob- 
tained ordination, as an Episcopal clergyman, from 
the Bishop of London, and after preaching a while 
in England, with especial zeal, against the Quakers, 
he came to this country as a missionary of the So- 
ciety for propagating the Gospel among the Indians. 
Being much slighted, and little favored, he returned 
to England, where he continued to preach in the 
Church until he died. 

All these religious and civil distractions in the 
colony were repeated with aggravations in England. 
Penn's enemies about the court made the most of 
them to the King, and adduced them as evidences 
that Penn was wholly unfit to govern, and that the 
colony would be ruined without some decisive inter- 
ference of his Majesty. Penn himself had foreseen 
the result, and, in his letters to his colony, had re- 
peatedly and expressly predicted it. Pressed by the 
facts, and the misrepresentations, which were urged 
upon them, and without giving Penn a just hearing, 
the King and Queen, by commission, dated October 
2 1 st, 1692, directed Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of 
New York, to take upon him the administration of 



WILLIAM PENN 131 

Pennsylvania and the territories. Thus Penn, 
though retaining his proprietary rights, was deprived 
of all his authority. He, however, wrote to Fletcher, 
who was under many obligations to him, cautioning 
him, and almost protesting, against his exercise of 
the government. 

This was certainly a most disastrous and trying 
period in the life of William Penn, comprehending 
the various calamities, from which heart and mind 
alike shrink back in dismay or gloom. So indeed it 
is, and ever has been, with most men, that, in the 
experience of such trials, they are overwhelmed, un- 
less sustained by an inward peace, which never for- 
sakes them, and still guided by an aim, which never 
fades in dimness from their faith. Penn, yet in re- 
tirement, might -mourn over a blighted hope, a 
broken design, a lost province, a dishonored name, 
and a dying wife at a distance from him. George 
Keith, his former bosom friend and travelling com- 
panion, was now his bitter enemy. Many of the 
most influential and cherished members of his own 
religious Society had grown cold in their attachment 
to him, and passed reflections upon him, not because 
they credited the idle story of his being a Papist, but 
because they thought he had long taken a more ac- 
tive and exciting part in the distractions of politics, 
than became an humble Christian man. The rich 
resources of his character are shown in the calm 
faith, and the self-control, and the good hopes, with 
which he met his reverses. 

The King seems to have been favorably disposed 
to Penn; but his advisers chose to retain their sus- 



132 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

picions, and to receive inimical reports from abroad 
and at home. No attempt was made to arrest him, 
though he might have been readily found. He did 
not confine himself to his lodgings, but rather 
avoided public notice. He seems to have been re- 
garded as. a prisoner at large, within such limits as 
admitted of his seizure, should any definite charge 
arise from the general suspicion which attached to 
him. 

But though he could not govern Pennsylvania, he 
might still befriend it; and he determined upon re- 
turning thither, that he might aid in preserving its 
constitution, and in advancing the plans, which he 
had designed for it. His great outlays, without an 
income from them, had embarrassed him. He there- 
fore wrote to some of his friends, asking them to 
find a hundred persons in the colony, each of whom 
would lend him a hundred pounds for four years, 
without interest, on his own bond, promising to 
bring over his family. But his request was not met. 
He employed these saddened hours in labors of the 
pen. The fruits of a rich experience, of much knowl- 
edge of his own heart and of other men, and of a 
very extended observation, are admirably expressed 
in a little book written by him in 1693, entitled 
" Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims 
relating to the Conduct of Human Life." In the 
same year he published " An Essay towards the 
Present and Future Peace of Europe." In this Es- 
say, which is of a thoroughly practical character, he 
comprehended nearly all that has since been written 
of the folly of war, and the methods and blessings of 



WILLIAM PENN 133 

peace, while he seems to have been the first to propose 
a congress of nations for the settlement of disputes 
and quarrels. 

Glancing, meanwhile, at the affairs of Pennsylva- 
nia, we find that the people had reason to regret the 
absence and misfortunes of their true friend. Gov- 
ernor Fletcher amazed them by entering upon his 
administration in April, 1693, with the pomp of a 
military retinue; he offended them by calling the 
Assembly, not as the charter appointed, but accord- 
ing to the form which he used in New York; and 
he drew from them a protest by pressing oaths and 
tests. He yielded to them on some points, though, 
by alleging that he did it only through favor, he 
greatly displeased the people, who thought that they 
retained all their privileges as guaranteed to them by 
the charter which brought them to America. 

The Governor, though allowing for the scruples 
of a large portion of the inhabitants of the province 
and territories, wished them to grant a supply, not 
for war, but for an incident of it, to help in protecting 
Albany from the French. He showed a message to 
that effect from the Queen, which seemed to require 
all the colonies to help in the defence of the frontiers. 
The Assembly, postponing action upon this demand, 
withheld the supply till, by protests and altercation, 
they had made their compliance a condition of the 
approval by the Governor of the bills which they 
passed. They at last voted a tax, amounting to 
seven hundred and sixty pounds, sixteen shillings 
and two pence; stipulating, however, that half of it 
should be a present to the Governor, and the other 



134 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

half a gift to the crown. The Governor then ap- 
proved the bills, dissolved the Assembly at its own 
request, and returned in the winter to New York, 
leaving William Markham as his deputy. Fletcher 
visited Philadelphia again in May, 1694, and called 
the Assembly in a legal way. With much adroitness, 
he attempted to obtain more money, not directly for 
war, but to support, and clothe, and relieve the In- 
dians, who were to fight, or to suffer from fighting. 
The Assembly refused to comply. Another session, 
in September, saw the same method renewed; and 
this completed the administration of Governor 
Fletcher, for the fortunes of Penn revived. 

Honorable feelings and simple justice could not 
longer allow such wrong to be done to the lawful 
Governor of Pennsvlvania. Powerful friends, whose 
esteem he had not lost, among whom were Locke, 
Tillotson, and Popple, the Duke of Buckingham, and 
the Lords Somers, Rochester, Ranelagh, and Syd- 
ney, interceded in his behalf with the King, and 
vouched his whole life of unexceptionable and un- 
stained integrity. King William said he had noth- 
ing against Penn, and that he was a free man to 
come and go at his pleasure. Lord Sydney pressed 
the King to signify this to Penn, through the Secre- 
tary of State. This was done in November, 1693. 
But Penn, being desirous of a more public and satis- 
factory release, was heard before the Council, and 
honorably acquitted.* His satisfaction at this result 
was overcast by the domestic affliction, which he 

* Particulars are given in a letter of Penn, in Proud, Vol. L 
*40i. 



WILLIAM PENN 1 35 

saw was at hand. His wife, a woman of eminent 
merits, and widely beloved by others, as she was 
tenderly clear to him, had long been in a decline. 
She participated in his satisfaction for his honorable 
discharge, and his freedom was at once devoted to 
her. He watched over her, and shared the comforts 
of her resignation and faith till she died, on the 23d 
of February, 1694. He then bore testimony to her 
virtuous life and her Christian death, in " An Ac- 
count of the blessed End of my Dear Wife, Guliel- 
ma Maria Penn." 

A congenial and comforting employment, at the 
time of his severe bereavement, was found by Wil- 
liam Penn, in writing, as a preface to the Journal of 
George Fox, " An Account of the Rise and Progress 
of the People called Quakers, in which their funda- 
mental Principles, Doctrines, Worship, Ministry, 
and Discipline are plainly declared." Of course the 
most engaging portion of this preface is that which 
concerns Fox himself. Penn had also become much 
interested in the Jewish people, and, for the sake of 
winning them to the Christian faith, he published, 
this year, " A Visitation to the Jews." He likewise 
published an account of his travels through Holland 
and Germany, in 1667. He had the satisfaction, too, 
of being restored to a full and warm regard by the 
members of his religious Society, who seemed now to 
value him for what he really was. 

Penn had sent a respectful petition to the King, 
that his government might once more be confided to 
him. The request was fairly considered, and was 
successful, for it appeared to be but just. The instru- 



I36 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

ment, which was signed on the 20th of August, 1694, 
was all the more acceptable, because it alleged that 
the disorder and confusion into which his colony had 
fallen had arisen from his necessary absence. He 
sent a commission to William Markham as his 
deputy, on the 24th of November, 1694, and closed 
the year by a ministerial tour in England. 

Penn's purpose now was to return to his colony at 
once, but various occupations and duties still inter- 
posed. In 1695, renewing the work of controversy, 
he published " A Reply to a pretended Answer, by a 
nameless Author, to William Penns Key." This 
work, elucidating and confirming a previous one, con- 
tains also a vindication of his own consistency. He 
appeared before the House of Commons with the 
Quakers' Petition, that their affirmations might pass 
for oaths. The petition was brief, but significant 
and forcible, alleging their strict conscientiousness, 
their much suffering for it, and their readiness to 
meet the punishment of perjury for falsehood. Penn 
made another religious tour in England, preaching 
and disputing abundantly and effectively. 

On the 5th of March, 1696, he formed a second 
connection by marrying Hannah Callowhill, daugh- 
ter and granddaughter of Quakers, and possessed of 
traits of character which he most esteemed. But his 
new prospects were again clouded by another terrible 
affliction. His eldest son, Springett, a young man 
very dear to his father for his virtues and promise, 
and for his entire religious sympathy, died of con- 
sumption, on the 10th of April, in his twenty-first 
year. This was a loss which Penn might feel would 



WILLIAM PENN 137 

never be restored in either of his other children. He 
wrote and published a pathetic account of the sick- 
ness and death of this young man, which readers 
may peruse with all the more satisfaction, as the 
father was not one to exaggerate in such a matter. 

The fruit of his meditations and labors at this 
period he published in a work entitled, " Primitive 
Christianity revived in the Faith and Practice of the 
People called Quakers, written in Testimony to the 
present Dispensation of God through them to the 
World, that Prejudices may be removed, the Simple 
informed, the Well-inclined encouraged, and Truth 
and its innocent Friends rightly represented." In 
these successive treatises or expositions of faith, the 
system which Penn adopted in his early years is ex- 
panded and defined. Being made more clear and 
self-consistent, it became somewhat more conformed 
to other systems, and more in harmony with perfect 
truth. He also took an active part in the contro- 
versy with the schismatic Keith, and in a pamphlet, 
called " More Work for George Keith," he quoted 
and turned against him some of his own previous de- 
fences of that faith which he now maligned. 

Penn waited upon Peter the Great, of Russia, 
while in London, and endeavored to interest him in 
the views of the Quakers, by conversing with him in 
High Dutch, and by giving him the books of the 
Society. The czar was so much won to his zealous 
teacher as to attend some Quaker meetings in Eng- 
land, and afterwards on the Continent. 

Penn took up temporary residence in Bristol, in 
1697, probably with reference to commercial and 



I38* AMERICAN felOGkA^HY 

mercantile business, though he attended meetings, 
and accompanied the preachers of the Society around 
the neighborhood. True always to the great cause 
of entire liberty of conscience in religion, he, this 
year, published " A Caution humbly offered about 
passing the Bill against Blasphemy." This was di- 
rected against a bill then before the House of Lords, 
which made a denial of the doctrine of the Trinity to 
be blasphemy by construction. It was for this that 
Penn opposed it. The bill was dropped. 

In 1698, before completing his measures towards 
reembarking for his colony, Penn made a visit to Ire- 
land, to preach, and look after his estate there. The 
preaching seems to have prevailed over the business. 
He attended all the regular and many occasional 
meetings of Friends, and was an honored and most 
impressive advocate of his high views. Crowds 
flocked everywhere to hear him. While in Dublin, 
he published " The Quaker a Christian," in answer 
to a pamphlet by one Plympton, with whom he had 
had a dispute, entitled " A Quaker no Christian." 
He sent an epistle from Ireland to the Yearly Meet- 
ing at London. He also published " Gospel Truths 
held by the People called Quakers," and, on his re- 
turn to England, " A Defence of a Paper called Gos- 
pel Truths against the exceptions of the Bishop of 
Cork's Testimony." After a visit to London and 
Deptford, to bid farewell to some Friends sailing for 
Pennsylvania, this earnest and laborious man again 
tasked the press to print " The Truth of God as held 
by the People called Quakers ; being a short Vindica- 
tion of them from the Abuses and Misrepresentations 
put upon them by envious Apostates and mercenary 



WILLIAM PENN 1 39 

Adversaries." There is more of variety than would 
naturally be expected in these repeated expositions 
of opinion. 

One more public effort in behalf of his brethren 
was required of Penn before he left England. There 
had been a public discussion at West Derham, be- 
tween an equal number of Episcopal clergymen and 
Quakers ; and the popular opinion was, that the latter 
had triumphed. Many of the clergy of Norfolk took 
up the dispute, and published " A Brief Discovery," 
in which the views of the Quakers were most grossly 
misrepresented as mischievous and dangerous. This 
was presented to Parliament with a design of con- 
tracting the liberty now allowed to Quakers. Penn 
contented himself with circulating an expostulatory 
and cautionary paper among the members, and with 
publishing " A Just Censure of Francis Bugg's Ad- 
dress to the Parliament against the Quakers." 

Though Penn was accompanied by his wife and 
family on his second embarkation for Pennsylvania, 
yet, in view of the uncertainty of his life, he wrote 
his best counsels before his departure, and published 
them in a little volume, called " Advice to his Chil- 
dren for their civil and religious Conduct." The 
volume contains excellent rules of life, with the rec- 
ommendation of all Christian graces and virtues. 
He wrote from on shipboard at Cowes, on the 3d of 
September, 1699, " A Farewell Epistle of Love and 
Exhortation to Friends," and sailed on the 9th of 
the month. His protracted voyage of nearly three 
months was accounted by some to a special Provi- 
dence, protecting him from the yellow fever, which 
in the interval had desolated the colony. 



CHAPTER XI 

Affairs of Pennsylvania. — Dissensions. — Military Supplies re- 
fused. — New Act of Settlement by Markham. — Penn's second 
Arrival. — Birth of a Son. — The Assembly. — Penn's humane 
Measures in Behalf of Slaves and Indians in Part frustrated. 
— The Constitution. — Penn is called to England again. — 
State of the Colony. — The Assembly Adopts the new Consti- 
tution. — The Indians. — City Charter of Philadelphia. — Penn's 
final Departure. 

Reverting to the fact already stated, that Penn, 
on the restoration to him of his proprietary rights 
and authority, in 1694, had appointed Markham as 
his deputy, a brief review of affairs during the in- 
terval will present the condition of the colony at the 
time of Penn's second arrival. Markham, assuming 
his office on the 26th of March, 1695, called a new 
provincial Council of three members, and an Assem- 
bly of six members, from each county of the prov- 
ince and territories. The Council met on the 20th of 
April, the Assembly on the 10th of September. Al- 
tercations at once arose, because he followed the 
precedent of Fletcher, rather than the provisions of 
the charter. The session was soon closed, and an- 
other commenced in October. Markham renewed 
the demand of Fletcher, founded on Queen Anne's 
letter, for money to aid in the fortifications of New 
York. Penn seems to have favored this demand, 

140 



WILLIAM PENN 141 

and it is probable that an implied condition on which 
his government was restored to him, was, that he 
should bear his share in such exactions. 

This demand of money, for a purpose which, it 
could not be disguised, was directly or indirectly 
connected with military proceedings, was most offen- 
sive to the Quaker portion of the people. Indeed, the 
whole people opposed it, as an unsafe precedent, or 
as a trespass upon the terms under which they had 
emigrated; and as they tried all mean's of evading, 
deferring, or resisting a compliance with it, and, 
whenever they yielded, connected one or more con- 
ditions with their grants, we may readily conceive 
that the demand was fruitful of contentions. 

Markham convened the Assembly again, on the 
26th of October, 1696. They remonstrated, as be- 
fore, against the illegality of the call. They were 
now anxious for a change in the mode of govern- 
ment, and, under the name of a new Act of Settle- 
ment, another charter or constitution was proposed 
Markham again presented Fletcher's request for 
more money; and, after much bickering, by way of 
compromise, Markham confirmed the new constitu- 
tion in November, and the Assembly voted three 
hundred pounds, to be appropriated, however, to the 
relief of distressed Indians, near Albany. The Act 
of Settlement provided that the Council should con- 
sist of two, and the Assembly of four members, from 
each of the three counties of the province and the 
territories; that an affirmation should serve as an 
oath for Quakers ; and that the Assembly should have 
the power to propose laws. 



142 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

A temporary quiet was thus restored in the legisla- 
ture, while the general interests of the colony were 
flourishing. Markham asked for more money in 
1697, and was respectfully refused, on the plea of 
poverty, and the assertion that the neighboring prov- 
inces had not contributed their fair proportion. A 
grossly exaggerated report had reached London, 
charging upon the Pennsylvanians the crime of 
piracy, and an illicit contempt of the navigation laws 
of England. The Pennsylvania government, there- 
fore, issued a proclamation against such offenders. 

On the whole, the state of affairs was as propitious 
as Penn could have expected to find it when he ar- 
rived in December, 1699. Leaving his son William 
in England, he had brought with him his wife, and 
his daughter Laetitia, probably then his only other 
child. His son John was born in Philadelphia, about 
a month after his arrival. The general expectation, 
encouraged too by the language of the proprietor, 
was, that he would make Pennsylvania the perma- 
nent home of himself and family. He landed at 
Chester, and was received by the Friends with the 
most affectionate respect and joy. An accident 
marred the occasion ; as some young men, contrary 
to express orders, discharged some old ship's cannon, 
one of them lost an arm by the forbidden display. 
After attending a religious meeting at Chester, on 
Sunday, Penn went up to Philadelphia, and there 
held another meeting. His presence caused delight 
to the multitude, though it was observed that some, 
who knew him not, and were not Quakers, but had 
come since his last visit, did not participate in the 
general joy. 



WILLIAM PENN 143 

He at once issued his writs calling together the 
Assembly, and, in the interval preceding its meeting, 
he mingled freely and heartily with the people, at- 
tending courts, weddings, and religious meetings, 
and endeavoring to acquaint himself with the whole 
interests and occupations of all. His residence was 
at Pennsbury, when he allowed himself any rest ; but 
he had also a dwelling in Philadelphia. The severe 
weather of winter precluded any extended journeys. 
He kept the Assembly in session but a fortnight, as 
his chief purpose was to pass some decisive laws 
against piracy and illicit trade, to remove all reproach 
from the colony. 

The concern, which at this period weighed most 
heavily upon the heart of Penn, was the condition of 
the negro slaves and the Indians, but more especially 
of the former. The outrageous iniquity which has 
rioted in its foulest license in this land, where it 
ought never even to have been named, the holding of 
human beings as slaves, was introduced into Penn- 
sylvania with the very beginnings of its plantations. 
Even the Quakers, whose standards and practice are 
allowed, by consenting testimony, to come nearest to 
the law of Christianity, engaged in the abominable 
traffic. Their sufficient excuse to their own hearts, 
and perhaps their sufficient defence against the judg- 
ment of our day, was, that they were exercising a 
humane mercy, in receiving to a share in their com- 
forts and blessings, as civilized beings, the abject 
.and barbarous victims of heathenism. Penn re- 
solved, that, both in his religious Society and in his 
civil government, the most effective measures should 



144 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

be taken to mitigate the evil so long as it must be 
endured, and to remove it if that were possible. 

The cause of the negro slaves had already been 
pressed upon the attention of the Friends in Pennsyl- 
vania before Penn's return. The honor of the first 
movement belongs to those emigrants from Kirch- 
heim, who had settled at Germantown. In 1688, 
they had presented a paper to the Yearly Meeting of 
Friends at Burlington, protesting against the buying, 
selling, and holding men in slavery, as inconsistent 
with the Christian religion. Some other local and 
subordinate meetings having, from time to time, sent 
similar protests, the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia, 
in 1696, issued its advice that Friends be careful not 
to encourage the bringing of any more slaves, and 
that they be religiously watchful of those already in 
their possession. George Keith and his party took 
the same ground, in the same year. The immediate 
result was, that the slaves were treated with more 
kindness and regard, and were looked upon as mem- 
bers of the families who had their services.* 

Penn introduced the subject with great earnest- 
ness and with success, before his first Monthly Meet- 
ing, in 1700. It was there determined, that a Month- 
ly Meeting should be held expressly for slaves, and 
that their masters should attend with them and labor 
for their Christian improvement. The same interest 
was excited in behalf of the Indians, and Penn took 
upon himself the expense of interpreters. 

* See the valuable paper, entitled " Notices of Negro Slavery 
as connected with Pennsylvania, by Edward Bettle," in " Me- 
moirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. I. Pt. 2, 
p. 365. 



WILLIAM PENN 145 

During an interval of relief from the duties of the 
Council board, the Governor occupied himself in pro- 
viding for the health and cleanliness of Philadelphia, 
requiring all slaughter-houses to be upon the river's 
bank, removing other nuisances, and arranging for 
the comfort of the inhabitants. The town then con- 
tained seven hundred dwellings. 

On the meeting of the Assembly, on the 10th of 
May, 1700, Penn proposed deliberation upon still 
another form of government, as the people were dis- 
satisfied with that of Markham, which had been 
adopted in 1696. The Governor designed that suffi- 
cient time and thought should now be spent upon a 
constitution, so that, with the help of past experience, 
the ends of government might be answered, and the 
state be settled in a regular and permanent method 
of administration. He did not wish the matter to 
be hastily decided, and therefore, without pressing 
this Assembly to immediate action, he asked them to 
keep the subject in view while other business 
advanced. 

In June, Penn laid before the Assembly his views 
and wishes in regard to the treatment of the slaves, 
a matter to him of increasingly painful interest. He 
sent to the Assembly three bills ; one " for regulating- 
negroes in their morals and marriages," another " for 
the regulation of their trials and punishments," and 
another " for preventing abuses upon the negroes." 
While the Assembly passed the second only of these 
bills, to the great grief of the Governor, the other 
two were negatived. The reasons probably were, 
that while the Council, composed entirely of Qua- 

A. B., VOL. IV. — 10 



146 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

kers, unanimously coincided with Penn, the Assem- 
bly, in which the Quakers were a minority, did not 
feel those scruples of conscience on this matter of 
slavery; and that the members from the territories, 
who were again uneasy, opposed nearly all legisla- 
tion at this time for the mere sake of opposition. 
Some other bills were passed, and the Assembly dis- 
solved on the 8th of June. 

After attending an Indian feast, and there deepen- 
ing the regard which the natives entertained for him, 
Penn travelled through his province, the Jerseys, and 
Maryland, in the work of the ministry. On the 14th 
of October, he again convened the Assembly, which 
met at New Castle to favor the territories. The 
chief business was to consider the new constitution, 
and to provide for the support of government. But 
the agitation, caused by the uneasiness and opposi- 
tion of the members from the territories, absorbed 
the chief attention of the Assembly. They were 
afraid lest a further subdivision of the province into 
counties, and its increasing preponderance, would 
cause the territories to be outvoted and oppressed, 
and they incessantly opposed the quiet settlement of 
all other business. Penn, for a time, appeased the 
strife by a measure, which allowed that, for all bills 
particularly affecting the territories, the assent of 
two-thirds of their own representatives, and of a ma- 
jority of the representatives of the province, should 
be requisite. Scarcely, however, was this concilia- 
tory indulgence assented to, when another dispute 
arose about proportioning the tax then to be levied 
for the support of government. The territorial rep- 



WILLIAM PENN 147 

resentatives showed that they had the power of oppo- 
sition, which they wished to retain. After much 
bickering, Penn again devised a measure of peace, 
and the tax was levied in a proportion of a little less 
than a quarter of the amount upon the territories. 
The new frame of government was still slowly con- 
sidered, but not passed, and the Assembly dissolved 
on the 27th of November. 

Early in 1701, Penn had intended to go to East 
Jersey, to aid in quelling a riot there. Quiet was re- 
stored before he set out upon the journey ; but from a 
letter, which he wrote on the occasion, it appears that 
he strongly advocated a resort to force on such emer- 
gencies, and was no foe to the most effective magis- 
terial authority. 

On the 23d of April, he held, at Philadelphia, an- 
other treaty of amity with the representatives of 
various Indian tribes, including the Five Nations; 
presents were exchanged, mutual agreements were 
made, and the natives acknowledged the King of 
England, not as their master, but as their protector, 
in preference above the King of France.* A com- 
pany was formed in the Council, to trade with the 
Indians, so as to avoid abuses, and to bring them to 
the Christian religion. It was agreed that none 
should buy land of them, within the charter limits, 
without the permission of the proprietor ; that none 
should sell them strong liquors ; and that no foreigner 
should trade with them. 

Penn convened the Assembly again on the 1st of 

* The terms and agreements of this treaty are given in 
Proud, Vol. I. p. 428-432. 



148 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

August, and laid before them a letter from the King, 
demanding three hundred and fifty pounds as their 
portion of a sum assessed upon all the proprietary 
governments for fortification and defence. This was 
a hard request for Penn to make, and harder still for 
the Assembly to allow. After much shuffling and 
procrastination, the money was refused on the al- 
leged grounds of poverty, and that the other colonies 
had not contributed their fair proportion to the ex- 
pense of previous defences. 

Penn had, about this time, another parley at 
Pennsbury with a tribe of Indians which he had not 
met before. We have an account of it in the journal 
of John Richardson, a minister among the Friends, 
who was present. It seems, that, in answer to his 
earnest queries about the Indian belief in a future 
state of rewards and punishments, the natives ex- 
pressed a conviction that the good enjoyed hereafter 
warm and pleasant hunting-grounds, with comfort- 
able blankets, while the wicked were banished to a 
cold place, and shivered there for the lack of cloth- 
ing. This is an inversion of the more common view 
of retribution among Christians. A cool place of tor- 
ment is certainly a novelty in religious speculation. 

But the plans of the proprietor were again arrested 
in their progress by the tidings transmitted to him 
from England, that a measure was already pending 
before the House of Lords, for bringing all the pro- 
prietary governments under the crown. Some real 
abuses, some exaggerated reports, but more real fear 
of the growing strength of the colonies, suggested 
this measure. It was kept in abeyance, for a time, 



WILLIAM PENN 1 49 

by some who were interested in opposing it. But 
Penn found in it cogent reasons for his return to 
England. Doubtless other considerations had 
weight with him, at this time, to lessen his desire to 
remain where he was. He was far from being en- 
tirely at ease in his government, or from finding the 
pleasant home, and the prosperous toil, which he had 
anticipated. An increasing variety of character, and 
other elements in the population of the colony, the 
disaffection of the territories, the issues constantly 
raised between the Quakers and others, and the great 
individual liberty allowed, caused frequent collisions 
of passion and interest. From the letters of Penn 
and his correspondents, it appears that his wife and 
daughter were uneasy and discontented, and that the 
unwillingness of the people to provide for his sup- 
port, or to reimburse his heavy outlays, had much 
weight with him.* 

He determined upon a return voyage ; and at once 
summoning the Assembly, which met at Philadel- 
phia, on the 15th of September, he gave them the 
reasons for his departure, expressed his strong re- 
luctance at the necessity of going away, suggested 
the importance of their legislative action, and re- 
peated the King's demand for three hundred and 
fifty pounds for the fortifications. The last item was 
summarily disposed of by a negative. The Assem- 
bly presented to him a respectful address, and twenty 
articles, relating to their privileges and desires, on 

* See the rich and valuable antiquarian gatherings of John F. 
Watson, in his " Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania," 
Vol. I. pp. 24, 167. 



150 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

which they wished for his action. He nobly offered 
them the privilege of nominating his deputy or suc- 
cessor; but they declined to avail themselves of the 
offer. Some of their articles he passed; others, 
which embraced a most impertinent and improper 
encroachment upon his own estate and private rights, 
he refused with some severity of temper, which the 
occasion justified. The people, not knowing whom 
they might have to deal with after him, and well 
aware that they must make the most of his indul- 
gence if they were coming under a direct royal con- 
trol, were disposed to trespass upon him even beyond 
the bounds of common decency.* His honest in- 
dignation soon subsided with the occasion which 
called it forth. 

While the Council was in session, a delegation of 
Indians was admitted to another friendly conference, 
and received presents when they took their leave of 
the proprietor and Governor. 

Another rupture was now made by the delegates 
from the territories. Some of them withdrew, and 
were about returning home. Penn employed all his 
persuasive power in attempting to conciliate them. 
He met them by themselves, and, after a patient 
hearing of the seceders, he reconciled them, by prom- 
ising them a final security against their ever being 

* The address and articles of the Assembly, with Perm's 
answer, are in Proud, Vol. II. Appendix V. Among other 
exactions made upon Penn were the demand of the free gift 
of some of his own reserved land, a request that the quit-rent 
charge might be removed, and that new terms of purchase 
might be made, and a claim that his unsold lots might be had 
at the rate of the first cost, without any allowance for their 
increased value. 



WILLIAM PENN 151 

outvoted, in having a separate government for them- 
selves, if they should desire it. 

The Assembly revised and enacted about one hun- 
dred laws. The new frame of government, which 
was essentially the same as that passed by Markham, 
except in allowing the territories to separate from 
the government of the province, and to have one of 
their own in three years, if they desired it, was rati- 
fied by Penn, on the 28th of October, 1701, and con- 
tinued in force so long as the English monarch 
controlled the colony. Penn then appointed a Coun- 
cil of eight, with executive power, and made Andrew 
Hamilton, a distinguished and influential proprietor 
of East New Jersey, his Deputy-Governor. 

One of the last official acts of William Penn, be- 
fore he embarked, was to make Philadelphia a city, 
by a charter signed on the 25th of October, 1701, 
and presented on the 29th of October. Edward 
Shippen was the first Mayor. Penn then embarked 
with his family for England. It was the last time 
on which he was to look upon those fresh scenes of 
human effort and conflict, for which his soul yearned 
as fitted for the exercise of its noblest faculties. It 
is vain to ask what effect his continued residence here 
would have had upon the prospects and destiny of 
that noble state,, which is honored in bearing his un- 
sullied name. 



CHAPTER XII 

Penn's Misfortunes in England. — Queen Anne.— His Address 
to her for the Quakers. — Discouraging News from his 
Colony. — The Territories secede. — Penn sends Evans as his 
Deputy. — William Penn, Junior. — Misconduct and Unpopu- 
larity of Evans. — Dissensions and Remonstrances. — Evans 
recalled. — Penn's Embarrassments. — A Prisoner for Debt. — 
Sends Gookin as his Deputy.— More Troubles in Pennsyl- 
vania. — James Logan. — Penn's expostulatory Letter. — Mort- 
gages his Province, and resolves to sell it. — His Health fails. 
— His Decline, and Death. 

William Penn arrived at Portsmouth in Decem- 
ber, 1 70 1. The primary end of his return was soon 
answered, as the project for bringing the proprietary 
governments, by purchase, under the direct control 
of the crown, was soon abandoned. But duties of 
various kinds occupied a portion of his time, though 
labors of devotion and love for others continued to 
employ, as they always had employed, the larger 
measure of it. He returned to England to bear re- 
newed disappointments, to suffer further indignities, 
to witness the frustration of many of his noble plans, 
and, amid the imbecility and helplessness of a long 
decline, to retain no other faculty but that of giving 
expression to the deep love, which glowed to the very 
last in his soul. These varied trials are the lot of all, 
who, by public service or by philanthropic endeavors, 
open so many avenues for them to their hearts. 

152 



WILLIAM PENN I 53 

They have fallen heavily upon the wisest and best 
of the earth. Indeed, there is nothing which so re- 
lieves the dark mystery of evil, as the well proved 
fact, that the wisest and best of the earth are ap- 
pointed to bear its heaviest inflictions, and still to 
conquer by the might of a diviner principle. Penn 
bore his share, and it was a very large one, in this 
hard conflict. His trials were those of the great; his 
victory was that of the good. 

The limits of this biography are restricted to the 
most brief mention of incidents, which concerned 
the proprietor of Pennsylvania ; the reader must look 
elsewhere for the history of that province. 

The death of King William, on the 16th of March, 
1702, did not essentially affect the interests of Penn. 
Queen Anne had been, and continued to be, his 
friend, respecting his great virtues, admiring his 
whole character, and being willing to forward his 
plans. She renewed the promise of toleration to the 
Quakers, and he carried up to her their address of 
thanks. He took lodgings at Kensington, to be near 
the court, and doubtless enjoyed much social happi- 
ness with the friends who loved and honored him. 
He published, in 1701, a second part to his " Fruits 
of Solitude," and in the following year wrote a letter, 
entitled " Considerations upon the Bill against occa- 
sional Conformity ; " that bill being then before the 
Commons. In 1703, Penn removed to Knightsbridge, 
where he wrote two prefaces, one to a collection of 
the writings of Charles Marshall, called " Zion's 
Travellers comforted ; " the other, " Vindiciae Veri- 
tatis; or, An Occasional Defence of the Principles 



154 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

and Practice of the People called Quakers; in An- 
swer to a Treatise by John Stillingfleet, a Clergyman 
in Lincolnshire, miscalled Seasonable Advice against 
Quakerism. " 

In the meanwhile, the information which Penn re- 
ceived from his province was very disheartening to 
him. The Lieutenant-Governor, Hamilton, could 
not control the conflicting elements of popular will 
and discordant interests, and he outraged the feel- 
ings of the Quakers by attempting to organize a 
militia. The territories, which had not accepted, nor 
had their share in ratifying, the new constitution, 
seceded from the joint government, and the province 
wished to avail itself of the contingency provided for 
in the charter, by increasing the number of repre- 
sentatives through the choice of four new members 
from each county, and of two from the city of Phila- 
delphia. Governor Hamilton acceded to the meas- 
ure; but, before it could be carried into effect, he 
died, in February, 1703. Edward Shippen, as presi- 
dent of the Council, filled his place till the wishes of 
Penn should be known. But he at once found him- 
self involved in a heated quarrel with the Assembly, 
respecting its power of self-adjournment. 

The proprietor immediately sent over John Evans 
as his deputy. This was a bad choice. Evans, 
though devoted to the interest of Penn, was young, 
passionate, volatile, and withal loose in his private 
habits. He treated with levity the scruples of the 
Quakers, and seems to have thought that their prin- 
ciples, which had stood the fires of persecution, would 
yield to his dictation or buffoonery. He arrived in 



WILLIAM PENN 155 

February, 1704. He appears to have set his heart 
upon reuniting the province and territories, and he 
immediately attempted a reconciliation between their 
respective representatives. The members of the ter- 
ritories, with whose side of the controversy he im- 
plicated himself, were ready to accept the terms pro- 
posed by him ; but the members of the province, prob- 
ably persuaded from former experience that real and 
lasting harmony was impossible, refused again to 
assume the show of it. A final separation therefore 
took place, and the three lower counties, or the terri- 
tories, henceforward had their own legislature, thus 
forming what afterwards became the independent 
State of Delaware. Governor Evans held an Assem- 
bly for the province at Philadelphia, and another for 
the territories at New Castle. 

There came over with Governor Evans William 
Perm, Junior, the only surviving son of the pro- 
prietor by his first wife, and one of the many trials 
of the excellent father, perhaps that one of them all 
which came nearest to his heart. There are extant 
letters of the proprietor to James Logan, from which 
it appears that the son, then a man with a wife and 
children, had for some time thought of visiting Penn- 
sylvania. These letters, written in confidence, dis- 
close the faults and weaknesses of the young man to 
Logan, to whose care, though himself a young and 
single man, the son of the proprietor was intrusted. 
He came to see how he should like the place, intend- 
ing to return and convey his family. Logan, warned 
of his propensities, was desired to win for him the 
favor of Friends, and to keep him constantly em- 



156 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

ployed. The number of hounds which he brought 
with him will probably indicate the ruling motive, 
which led him to the forests of the New World. As 
might be supposed, he found the Society of Friends 
too tedious for him. He sometimes attended their 
religious meetings, but soon ceased to regard any 
form of worship, and, owing to some offence, which 
he took up against the Quakers, probably a resent- 
ment of their expostulation or advice, he broke his 
connection with the Society. In company with some 
young bachelors, he kept house in Philadelphia, and, 
amid the indulgences of free living, he did not escape 
the imputation of the grosser vices. Having been 
concerned with others in a drunken frolic and a street 
fray, young Penn was presented by the grand jury, 
in September, 1704, and convicted, though Governor 
Evans reversed the sentence. We may, however, 
infer, from the fact of his having friends and vindi- 
cators, that he stands charged with the utmost that 
his enemies or severe critics could allege against him. 
After selling his manor to pay his debts, he returned 
to England in disgust; and his father, though not 
justifying his folly, lamented some provocation to 
which he had been subjected.* 

The unpopularity of Governor Evans increased 
with all his public acts, and by the habits of his 
private life. His repeated attempts to involve the 
people in military preparations, and other measures 
of his administration, led the Assembly to send to 
Penn a remonstrance against him. In 1705, Evans 

* See Letters from Mrs. Logan's collection, quoted in " Wat- 
son's Annals of Philadelphia," Vol. I. pp. 112 and following. 



WILLIAM PENN 157 

informed the Assembly that the proprietor was dis- 
pleased with this proceeding. A temporary harmony 
was restored, when two mischievous measures of 
Evans completely alienated from him the respect and 
confidence of the people. Determined to try the 
effect of a stratagem upon the pacific principles of 
the Quakers, the Governor, in conjunction with 
Thomas French and others, caused a deceptive mes- 
sage from New Castle to be sent to him at Philadel- 
phia, on occasion of a fair, on the 16th of May, 1706, 
informing him that some armed vessels were coming 
up the river with a hostile intent. By a preconcerted 
arrangement, frightened emissaries sped through the 
streets, while Evans himself, riding about with a 
drawn sword, caused a terrible fright. James Logan 
was thought to be implicated in the trick. Amid the 
consternation which ensued, the loss of valuable 
property, and the dangers always attending such an 
alarm, only four Quakers appeared in arms. When 
the deception was discovered, the indignation of the 
people was intense. 

The other outrage, committed by Evans, was the 
erection of a fort at New Castle, by connivance with 
some in the territories, and the demand of a toll from 
ships passing it, under the penalty of being fired 
upon. Some resolute Quakers in Philadelphia bold- 
ly subjected themselves in a vessel to this penalty, 
and, by a stratagem getting the commander of the 
fort in their power, put a stop to the imposition. A 
second remonstrance against Evans was sent to Penn 
in 1707. 

When information of this distressing character 



I58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

was conveyed to the proprietor in England, it found 
him involved in troubles of a most annoying and 
painful nature. With at least an equal zeal for the 
religious views which he so fondly loved, and so de- 
votedly supported, as for the good administration 
of his province, he had written, in 1704, a preface to 
John Whithead's " Works," and had travelled as a 
minister, in 1705, in England. Penn was no econo- 
mist; but kindness, not wastefulness, consumed his 
means. His estate in England and Ireland produced 
an income of fifteen hundred pounds. The purchase 
money of his province was nominally the debt due 
from the crown to his father, while the sale of the 
lots would apparently increase his means. To these 
sources of an annual revenue should have been added 
the quit-rents and the imposts, which ought to have 
yielded him some thousands a year. Of the two lat- 
ter emoluments he was almost entirely defrauded. 
Now, among his expenses must be set down the un- 
told sums which he had paid for the relief of hun- 
dreds of his religious friends in England, Ireland, 
and Scotland, as well as upon the continents of Eu- 
rope and America ; the cost of his public agencies and 
his court interests ; the charges attending the emigra- 
tion and settlement of both poor and rich in the 
Jerseys and in his own patent; his share in the bur- 
dens of government and in improvements ; and, last- 
ly, the maintenance of his deputies almost entirely 
from his own purse. Penn himself says, " I spent 
upon the colony ten thousand pounds the first two 
years. My deputy-governors cost me much, and vast 
sums I have melted away here in London, to hinder 



WILLIAM PENN 159 

much mischief against us, if not to do us much 
good." * 

Philip Ford, a Quaker and merchant of London, 
had been for several years Penn's general agent 
there. Through his mismanagement and dishonesty, 
followed up by his heirs, the proprietor of Pennsyl- 
vania, who had been an inmate of prisons for con- 
science' sake, became now a prisoner for debt. In 
his complicated business concerns, which were em- 
barrassed by the faults of others, Penn had, with the 
fullest confidence, signed a deed of sale of his prov- 
ince to Ford, and took for him a lease for three years. 
Afterwards, Ford, having paid sixteen thousand 
pounds, and having received seventeen thousand 
pounds, demanded of Penn, for compound interest 
and commissions, a balance of ten thousand five 
hundred pounds, while it would appear that less than 
two thousand pounds were due him. On the death 
of Ford, his son and widow, although bed-ridden, 
exacted the whole amount claimed, and arrested 
Penn at a meeting in January, 1708. To avoid their 
extortion, and to be in a situation to make the best 
terms for himself, Penn put himself within the limits 
of the Fleet Prison, where he made himself as com- 
fortable as a good conscience, generous living, and 
the kind visits of Friends would allow. The Fords 
petitioned Queen Anne to put them in possession of 
Pennsylvania, but without success, while they of- 
fered to sell it to Isaac Norris for eight thousand 
pounds. When the case came before chancery, Penn, 

* Letter of Penn to his steward, J. Harrison, at Pennsbury, 
in Watson, Vol. I. p. 108. 



l6o AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

though evidently wronged, lost it, and his freedom 
was secured by subscriptions and loans among his 
friends.* 

Constant perplexities annoyed Penn at this time, 
and frustrated all his intentions. The troubles in his 
own distant province, multiplying with each message 
which brought them, gave him no peace, except that 
which he found in his own breast. What grounds 
there may have been for the strong, and continued, 
and fretting resistance against his government and 
plans, it might be difficult now to decide. Nor 
should our honorable and deserved estimation of 
William Penn lead us to imagine that there were no 
such grounds. He was the feudal head of a democ- 
racy, and this was a combination of heterogeneous 
elements, which could promise but little harmony in 
their workings. He had given the people so much 
liberty, that they thought one lawful mode of exer- 
cising it was to strip him of the little authority which 
he had reserved to himself. Had he been in their 
midst, his personal weight, his manifest devotion to 
their good, and the implication of his interest with 
their own, would doubtless have secured a more 
felicitous result to himself personally. But the dele- 
gation of his authority to deputies, not always most 
wisely chosen, his own separation, and the difficulties 
attending the exercise of his power across the water, 
the collision of parties, and the novelty of self-gov- 
ernment; these and other causes embarrassed his 
prospects and defeated some of his designs. The 
leaders of the opposing party in the colony were 
* Watson, Vol. I. p. 108. 



WILLIAM PENN l6l 

David Lodge, Colonel Quarry,* of the customs, and 
John Moore. Their opposition showed itself in three 
ways; in refusing a pecuniary support to Penn and 
his deputies ; in embarrassing the courts about oaths 
or affirmations ; and in writing to England such high- 
wrought accounts of the undefended and misman- 
aged condition of the colony, as to have originated 
and prolonged the design of putting the government 
directly under the crown. 

The second remonstrance against Evans, which 
had been sent to England, together with the infor- 
mation brought to Penn by Isaac Norris and others, 
induced him, after candidly weighing the views and 
measures of both parties, to recall Evans in 1708, 
and to send Charles Gookin as his deputy. f He 
then mortgaged his province to some Friends, for 
six thousand, six hundred pounds. Thus tempora- 
rily relieved, he devoted himself again to another 
ministerial tour, and published an introduction to the 
works of his eminent friend, Bulstrode Whitelocke. 

Governor Gookin, arriving in March, 1709, found 
the Assembly in session, and, much to his offence, 
was anticipated in the business which he would have 
proposed, by an address that entered at length into 

* Two memorials of Colonel Quarry against the government 
of Pennsylvania, addressed to the Lords Commissioners for 
Trade, with Penn's answers, are in " Memoirs of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. II. Pt. 2, pp. 191, 206. 

f In a letter to James Logan, written a few months after he 
had sent Governor Gookin, Penn says, " Make the most of him 
to friends and service. He had hints enough to follow theirs 
and thine, and was let into every secret of your affairs that 
occurred to me at his going. Give him measures of persons 
and things." " Memoirs of Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania," Vol. I. pp. 208, 209. 

A. B„ VOL. IV.— II 



1 62 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

old grievances, and suggested a prosecution of 
Evans before he left the country. 

In June, Gookin summoned the Assembly again, 
and, in aid of the expedition designed by Queen 
Anne against Newfoundland and Canada, asked for 
one hundred and fifty soldiers, with officers and out- 
fit, or for an equivalent in four thousand pounds. 
The Assembly refused both proposals, but offered to 
make a present to the Queen of five hundred pounds. 
The Governor, greatly displeased, adjourned the 
Assembly till August. At that time he renewed 
his demand, and the Assembly offered to add three 
hundred pounds more to their grant to the Queen, 
and to give the Governor two hundred pounds be- 
sides. This was also unsatisfactory. In the col- 
lisions which attended this strife, James Logan, an 
honest and influential Quaker, but who doubtless im- 
proved, as he advanced in life, in some qualities of 
temper and judgment, was impeached by the As- 
sembly, arrested, and sentenced to punishment. The 
Assembly would not grant any money, unless the 
Governor would ratify the bills, which it had en- 
acted. The same discord prevailed in the next ses- 
sion, as Gookin would not allow a bill to pass with- 
out the approbation of the Council, and of course 
the Assembly issued another remonstrance. Logan 
went to England, in 1710, bearing to Penn, who, for 
the best reasons, reposed all confidence in him, a full 
statement of the contentions in the Quaker province. 
It ought, however, to be admitted, that while any 
other than a Quaker province would have been liable, 
under like circumstances, to equal disturbance, none 



WILLIAM PENN 1 63 

but a Quaker province could have peacefully endured 
and flourished amid such strife. For it is a remark- 
able fact, that this discord in the government was 
accompanied by a steadily increasing and fair pros- 
perity at large. 

The representation made by Logan drew from 
Penn an expostulatory letter, addressed to the As- 
sembly, dated London, June 29th, 1710. This beau- 
tiful and affecting document, written with all the 
magnanimity and forbearance of the author, con- 
tains a brief review of his connection with the col- 
ony, his plans, sacrifices, disappointments, and griev- 
ances, while it earnestly, but gently, administers 
censure, and affectionately appeals to all the better 
feelings of those to whom it was addressed.* This 
letter produced a great and good effect, as it could 
scarcely fail to do. It melted the hearts of all who 
could feel for the virtues and misfortunes of their 
most devoted and disinterested friend. The next 
Assembly, composed entirely of new members, who 
had not been soured or heated by previous animosi- 
ties, met and proceeded in much harmony. 

In 171 1, Gookin renewed the incessant request for 
military aid or money. The Assembly regretted to 
refuse, but consented to raise a tax of two thousand 
pounds for a present to the Queen. There was far 
from being entire harmony, for matters of contro- 
versy continually presented themselves. 

And now the blessing of health, which, next to his 
faith and a good conscience, William Penn valued 
most, and had longest enjoyed, began to fail him. 
* Given by Proud, Clarkson, Hazard, and others. 



1 64 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Cares and reverses may have worn upon his good 
constitution ; and when his good constitution began 
to yield to human infirmities, before the period of 
old age, mind and body shared equally in the de- 
cline. In 1 710, he fixed his residence, for the re- 
mainder of his life, at Rushcombe. He was con- 
stant in his attendance at religious meetings ; he con- 
tinued his large correspondence, made occasional 
visits to London, and, in 171 1, dictated a preface to 
the works of John Banks. 

In 1 71 2, Penn resolved to sell his proprietary 
rights to the crown, and asked therefor twenty thou- 
sand pounds. Queen Anne referred him to the 
Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations. 
His purpose to sell seems to have been suggested by 
the crown's previous intention to purchase. James 
Logan began to correspond with him upon the sub- 
ject as early as 1701, and Penn seems then to have 
entertained the idea, though reluctantly, and to have 
comforted himself with the thought, that though he 
disposed of his proprietary rights, he should still 
leave to his children, for inheritance, a domain and 
a burial-place in Pennsylvania. In 171 2, he had 
completed arrangements for the transfer, for which 
he was to be paid twelve thousand pounds, and had 
already received a partial payment, when a stroke of 
apoplexy, from which he never wholly recovered, 
caused a failure of his mental faculties ; and the busi- 
ness was never completed, though afterwards at- 
tempted by him. His wife was informed, in 171 3, 
that her husband " might have long since finished it, 
had he not insisted too much on gaining privileges 



WILLIAM PENN 1^5 

for the people." It was with deep sorrow that the 
honored and faithful man thus sought a refuge from 
his perplexities in a measure, which wrecked at least 
one darling hope of his life. 

He wrote to some Friends in Pennsylvania, on the 
24th of July, 1 712, that he was about concluding his 
transfer to government. He says, " But I have 
taken effectual care, that all the laws and privileges I 
have granted to you shall be observed by the Queen's 
Governors, &c, and that we, who are Friends, shall 
be in a more particular manner regarded and treated 
by the Queen. And you will find all the charters 
and proprietary governments annexed to the crown 
by Act of Parliament next winter. I purpose to see 
you if God give me life this fall ; but I grow old and 
infirm, yet would gladly see you once more before I 
die, and my young sons and daughter also settled 
upon good tracts of land," &c* 

Three successive apoplectic attacks undermined 
the strong constitution of William Penn. His pow- 
ers of motion, and his memory and mind, failed him. 
Amid the comforts of his home at Rushcombe, with 
the assiduous care of his wife, and cheered by occa- 
sional visits of public friends, he passed the remain- 
der of his days. His last love showed itself in his 
attendance at religious meetings ; and when he could 
no longer speak the names of those with whom he 
had shared such pleasures, he could remember their 
countenances, and feel the comfort which they spoke. 
Intervals of partial restoration, during six years, re- 

* " Memoirs of Historical Society of Pennsylvania," Vol. I. 
pp. 210, 211. 



166 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

lieved him. Up to the year 171 5, he attended meet- 
ings at Reading, and in 171 7 could walk about his 
grounds in pleasant weather. But, steadily ap- 
proaching the hour of his relief, enjoying unbroken 
serenity of mind in every moment of consciousness, 
he expired on the 30th of July, 1718, in the seventy- 
fourth year of his age. 

A great concourse attended his funeral, and a 
noble and affecting testimony was borne to his hon- 
ored life. He was interred at Jordan's in Bucking- 
hamshire, where his former wife and several of his 
family were buried, on the 5th of August, 171 8. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Respect borne to the Character of William Penn. — The As- 
persions cast upon him after his Death by various Writers 
considered. — Burnet. — The State Papers of Nairne. — Lord - 
Littleton. — Franklin. — Grahame. — General Estimate of 
Penn's Character. — His Virtues and Services. — His private 
Life and Habits. — Prosperity of the Colony. — The Descend- 
ants of Penn. 

The protracted seclusion and decline, which pre- 
ceded the decease of William Penn, were cheered by 
the many earnest inquiries and respectful sympathies 
of a multitude of friends. The large concourse at 
his funeral bore the testimony of some of all sects 
to his singular liberality as a Christian, and his per- 
fect consistency as a Friend. His wife attended to 
many of his business concerns, and, after his death, 
held frequent correspondence with the functionaries 
in Pennsylvania. Indeed, as will appear, she ad- 
ministered and governed the province for her chil- 
dren during their minority. 

But detraction did not leave the last years of Penn 
unassailed, nor has it wholly spared his memory. A 
disowned Quaker minister circulated a report, that 
he died of madness like to that of Nebuchadnezzar ; 
but the idle tale was promptly refuted. As to the 
imputations which have been cast upon his public 
career, including the calumnies of enemies and the 

167 



1 68 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

misapprehensions and prejudices of those who un- 
designedly misjudged him, but a few words of reply 
will foe thought necessary. The absurd charge of 
his being a Jesuit or a Papist has been already 
noticed. 

The phenomena of Penn's public career are so re- 
markable, that it would have been a miracle had he 
escaped calumny and censure. That he should have 
been a Quaker, was a marvel, which almost stupefied 
those who otherwise would have been his intimate 
friends. That, being a Quaker, and amenable to the 
scorn and persecution visited on that sect, he should 
have shared the highest favor of the court, and been 
served by ambitious and intriguing statesmen, was 
another marvel, which few took the pains to explain 
consistently with his integrity. Now, it may fairly 
be submitted whether his undeniable virtues do not 
offer the most reasonable and satisfactory explana- 
tion of both those marvels. Conscience made him a 
Quaker, and conscience was never sacrificed in any 
advantage which he obtained for himself or for 
others. His profession brought upon him penalties 
enough. It would have been hard if he could not 
avail himself of the immunities attendant upon that 
profession. He suffered in behalf of the great prin- 
ciple of religious liberty; was he to refuse to enjoy 
its blessings, because the Catholics shared them with 
him, or because the great charter of the soul was 
confirmed only by an arbitrary act of a monarch and 
still needed to be legalized by a Parliament ? * 

* I have not thought the calumny of Chalmers worthy of a 
place in the text, or that a refutation of it is called for even in 



William penN 169 

Bishop Burnet, in his " History of his Own 
Time," has given currency and permanence to the 
charges against Penn, based upon his furtherance of 
some of the measures of James the Second. These 
charges have been sufficiently noticed in the preced- 
ing pages. It may now be left to the admirers of 
Burnet to explain or justify an act of great mean- 
ness on his part. His last mention of Penn is under 
date 1690, when Penn was embraced in a procla- 
mation with others under a false imputation, and is 
said by the Bishop to have " absconded." This last 
word we know to be inapplicable to Penn's retire- 
ment from public gaze, though not from the reach 
of justice, should it have sought him. But Burnet 
brought down his History to the year 1713, and in 
the interval between 1690 and that date, Penn, as he 
well knew, was honorably acquitted, and restored to 
his government, and actually discharged it in Penn- 
sylvania, enjoyed the personal esteem of Queen 
Anne, travelled largely as a minister, mingled on 
equal terms with the nobles and dignitaries of the 
realm, and was sinking under the providential stroke 
which brought him to the grave. Burnet also knew 
that the lying impostor Fuller, whose false oath had 
raised suspicion against Penn, had been brought to a 
fine and to scorn, to the house of correction and the 
pillory. Why, then, should Bishop Burnet forget 

a note. His coarse assault upon Penn is thus expressed : " In 
the meantime, the renowned William Penn, the head of a con- 
siderable party, a man of great depth of understanding, at- 
tended by equal dissimulation, of extreme interestedness, ac- 
companied with insatiable ambition, and of an address in pro- 
portion to all these, engaged in colonization." Chalmers's 
" Political Annals," p. 635. 



170 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

twenty-three years of his " Own Time," with all 
their honorable testimony to Penn, that he might 
leave on the page of his History, as the last word 
connected with that honored man, the charge that he 
" absconded "? 

The charges against Penn, found in the State 
Papers of Nairne, appear to involve him in two 
treasonable attempts to restore the Stuarts to the 
English throne. The charges rest upon the verbal 
statements of spies and informers, and upon doubt- 
ful interpretations of letters written in ciphers. 
They relate to two periods, namely, December, 1693, 
and the year 171 3. They are decisively set aside by 
facts. As to the former period, that was the very 
time at which Penn proved his entire innocence of all 
such charges before the King and Council. As to 
the latter period, so far was Penn from being then 
in a condition to plot as a traitor, that the crown 
lawyers pronounced him to be incapable, through 
mental infirmity, of selling a piece of property. 

Lord Littleton, in his " Dialogues of the Dead," 
has introduced into that between Cortez and Penn 
intimations that pecuniary profit and ambition were 
the motives, which interested the latter in an Ameri- 
can province. It is a pity that the noble writer could 
not have introduced a balance sheet from Penn's ac- 
counts, showing how many thousand pounds his 
speculation cost him, and also some extracts from 
the debates of the Pennsylvania Council and Assem- 
bly, which would prove that Penn's ambition took a 
singular turn when he allowed a feudal government, 
of which he was the lord, to become in his hands a 



WILLIAM PENN 171 

pure democracy, which denied him even his honest 
debts. It would be well if pecuniary speculation and 
ambition would always admit so much of the moral 
element, as they found in the noble sacrifices of Wil- 
liam Penn. 

It is singular that the meanest and most dishonor- 
able aspersions cast on Penn should have come from 
his own province, sanctioned by one of the most 
renowned of the citizens of the New World. These 
aspersions are found in the " Historical Review of 
the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania, 
from its Origin," written in 1759. Although Dr. 
Franklin was not the author of that volume, he was 
the responsible voucher of those imputations of 
worldliness, self-seeking, and exorbitancy against 
Penn which are found in it.* The only shadow of 
proof alleged for them is offered in Penn's reiterated 
demand for the quit-rents, which were a portion of 
the purchase money of all the land sold by him. He 
never had a more honest due than these. It was to 
the disgrace of his province that they were not paid. 
Even the attempt of the Assembly to turn them to 
the support of the government was an acknowledg- 
ment of the debt. By all allowances of morality 
and law, Penn would have been justified in depriving 
all the discontents of their estates, to which they had 
lost a legal title by breach of contract. But he did 
not avail himself of that extreme power. He took 
the other extreme, by bearing the insult and the in- 

* See a letter from Dr. Franklin to David Hume, in which 
the former denies the authorship of the " Historical Review," 
and Mr. Sparks's note upon it. Sparks's " Franklin," Vol. 
VII. p. 208. 



172 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

jury with noble magnanimity. This political re- 
view was written for a partisan purpose. The ob- 
ject of the author was to heap obloquy upon the 
proprietary family, to make out a case which should 
involve the successive owners of the province in the 
common charge of mercenary exaction, and to help 
the early stages of the Revolution in the American 
colonies under real wrongs, by showing that their 
connection with England had always caused them 
trouble. Franklin, or whoever he aided in the work, 
wished to make a complete argument; and so the 
first of the Penn name came in for his share of the 
discredit, which was to be visited on the family. 
Under other circumstances, few men would have 
surpassed Franklin in exhibiting the character of the 
first Governor in all the harmony of its distinctions 
and virtues. 

The last writer deserving notice on this subject 
is the late excellent James Grahame, author of an 
admirable " History of the United States." This 
writer has indeed spoken in exalted language of the 
Quaker legislator. After speaking of the early re- 
ligious choice of Penn, he adds, " It would not be 
easy to figure a more interesting career than is ex- 
hibited in the greater portion of his subsequent life. 
Everywhere, from the courts of German princes to 
the encampments of Indian savages, we find him 
overcoming evil by good, and disarming human vio- 
lence and ferocity by gentleness, patience, and piety. 
A mind so contemplative, and a life so active ; such a 
mixture of mildness and resolution, of patience and 
energy, of industry and genius, of lofty piety and 



WILLIAM PENN 173 

profound sagacity, have rarely been exemplified in 
the records of human character." More of the same 
noble praise is freely accorded by the pure and high- 
minded Grahame. But he feels compelled to shade 
it afterwards. While the Scotch Presbyterian 
judges according to his sincere and rigid faith of the 
tenets of Quakerism, he also shares some of that feel- 
ing which challenged Penn in his lifetime for his in- 
fluence with King James, and for his mode of acced- 
ing to the measures of that monarch. 

Grahame was moved to qualify " the unmixed 
and unmerited encomium which Penn's character and 
labors have received," and then proceeds to reflect 
upon him for cultivating the friendship of a tyrant ; 
for improving the exercise of arbitrary power to his 
own private ends, in opposition to the rights of oth- 
ers ; for asking favors from hands imbrued with the 
blood of his friends ; and for being an actual abettor 
on the wrong side in various issues of his time.* 
That there was ground for all these imputations the 
preceding pages will show. But that this ground is 
just, and will sustain these charges fairly and fully, 

* Grahame's " History of tfie United States." London edi- 
tion, Vol. II. pp. 3I3-3I9- 

Even Gordon, in his " History of Pennsylvania," has re- 
iterated, though in somewhat softened terms, the more common 
imputations upon Penn's sincerity and worth, laying the chief 
stress upon his alleged ambition, worldliness, love of court 
pleasures, and distaste for a quiet life. See Gordon, pp. 71, 
83-88, and 176. 

For a satisfactory refutation of the mistakes and reflections 
most discreditable to Penn, the reader is referred to " An Ex- 
amination of the various Charges brought by Historians against 
William Penn, both as a Man, and as a political Governor, by 
J. R. Tyson," in " Memoirs of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania," Vol. II. Pt. II. pp. 127-157. 



174 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the reader of these pages will hardly decide in the 
affirmative. The decision is left to him. It is 
enough to add of them here, that they are utterly 
inconsistent with the praise which Grahame has so 
honorably ascribed to Penn. Such contrarieties of 
character, as would deserve both the praise and the 
censure, were never yet found in a human being. 

To set against the above mentioned aspersions 
upon William Penn the encomiums which his sin- 
gular excellence and his career would justify, would 
be a pleasing work. But when a man's life and 
labors speak his praise, words may be spared, and 
epithets are only dross, which do not make a part 
of the precious metal of virtue. The single fault, 
which appears most prominent in his character, is 
that of a lavish improvidence in managing his pe- 
cuniary affairs. He bestowed gifts when he was 
compelled to borrow the means. He remitted his 
own honest dues when his creditors or his depen- 
dents pressed their claims. He intrusted to a cun- 
ning and deceitful steward the control of matters, 
which he ought to have kept in his own hands. Had 
he waited less upon the court for the benefit of oth- 
ers, his own interests would not have suffered so 
much. He risked bankruptcy for the sake of 
liberality. 

Penn was far from being insensible of the great 
sacrifices of social and personal considerations which 
he had made by identifying himself with the Qua- 
kers. He might have been a peer of the realm, That 
honor was indeed intended for his family; but he 
yielded not only that prospect, but also the actual 



WILLIAM PENN 175 

dignity of his standing in the artificial scale of social 
rank. There are frequent passages in his letters and 
other writings, showing how the spirit of the Chris- 
tian Friend got the better of the pride of the English 
gentleman. 

The solid claims which may be advanced in be- 
half of Penn, as one of the few of the eminent and 
pure, one of the very few of the innocently great of 
this earth, rest upon the substantial foundations of 
virtue and wisdom, which are appreciated through- 
out the world. He pursued exalted aims, drawn 
from the most advanced attainments of the age in 
which he lived, and anticipating the light of an after- 
time. Three great principles controlled his mind 
and cheered his heart : reverence for God, love for 
man, and confidence in freedom. If, in the judg- 
ment of worldly minded and politic statesmen, 
Penn's theory of government is distrusted, or 
thought inefficient, it is because of the predominance 
in it of the moral element, both as the -end and the 
means. He made schools of industry out of his 
prisons ; and when English law visited death upon 
many petty offences, he confined the penalty to wil- 
ful and deliberate murder, allowing it in this case 
only because he understood the law of God as re- 
quiring it. His intense interest in the Indians, 
which led him even to dance at one of their festivals, 
and his scrupulous justice toward them, which made 
their pagan hearts revere him, form the most pleas- 
ing narrative in the whole history of the intercourse 
between the savages and the whites. His early care 
for the negro slaves led him to suggest a measure in 



176 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHV 

their behalf which would have insured the entire 
abolition of slavery. 

Penn excelled in the best of human qualities. He 
was free from vice. His natural powers were of a 
high order ; his acquired advantages were large and 
various, embracing bodily strength, learning, wis- 
dom, and discretion, as the furniture of his mind, 
with the richest and most attractive graces of the 
heart. As a writer, he used few images, but em- 
ployed a wide compass of language. He makes con- 
stant references to the Scriptures, but always quotes 
them in their natural sense, with no forced applica- 
tions. The titles of all his known publications have 
been given in the preceding pages, under their re- 
spective dates. 

They who conceive of Penn as a sanctimonious 
and rigid zealot, with a stiffened countenance, a 
formal garb, and a frowning look cast upon the in- 
nocent pleasures and good things of life, would go 
wide of the truth. He was quite a gentleman in his 
dress and manner of life, in his furniture and equi- 
page. He loved manly sports; he could hunt and 
angle. Dean Swift says, that " he talked very 
agreeably and with great spirit." Another con- 
temporary testimony, that which the Friends at 
Reading Meeting (where he attended most in his 
last years) bore to him after his death, says, " he was 
facetious in conversation." We learn from other 
sources that he loved a good joke, and knew how to 
make one. An instance has already been given of 
his common habit, in his correspondence, of avoid- 
ing thee and thou by circumlocutions, when he 
thought it would be disagreeable and offensive. 



WILLIAM PENN 177 

Penn wore buckles and wigs; he had silk, damask, 
and silver ornaments in his household; he kept a 
rich coach and a stately barge, a calash and saddle 
horses, and used some measure of pomp and cere- 
mony in his acts of government. He had a fine 
mansion at Pennsbury, and a manor at Springett- 
bury, with rich gardens, and stock of high breeds. 
He does frequently censure the luxurious cookery of 
his time ; but his cash books afford existing evidence 
that his portly frame had not been fed on air and 
water alone. System, and method, and good order 
presided over the domestic arrangements of Penn, 
and thrice in every day the household were called 
together for religious exercises. Cheerfulness and 
sincerity characterized the piety of William Penn.* 
On the first General Meeting of Friends, held after 
the news of his decease, in Philadelphia, on the 16th 
of March, 1719, "a testimony of Friends in Penn- 
sylvania, concerning their deceased friend and Gov- 
ernor, William Penn," was given forth, bearing 
fifty signatures. It expresses his virtues in those 
calm and measured phrases, which distinguish the 
best of such documents, f 

* See " Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," 
Vol. III. Pt. II. pp. 67-104, for " A Discourse on the private 
Life and domestic Habits of William Penn, by J. Francis 
Fisher." This is a most choice and delightful specimen of a 
kind of writing, which we desire above all other kinds as the 
memorial of distinguished men. Mr. Fisher has most profit- 
ably used materials, which his diligent labors acquired. 

In the same volume, pp. 213-231, is " A Memoir of Part of 
the Life of Willmm Penn, by Mr. Lawton," which is devoted 
exclusively to exhibiting Penn's honest use of his court 
influence. 

f See " The Friends' Library," Vol. V. pp. 327, 328. Philadel- 
phia, 1841. There is no proof of Bancroft's assertion, (" His- 

A. B., VOL. IV.— 12 



178 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

In spite of its frequent political jars and bicker- 
ings, the province of Pennsylvania was, at the time 
of its founder's death, a monument to his wisdom 
and benevolence. It numbered then a population of 
sixty thousand, and Philadelphia alone contained 
fourteen hundred houses. The province continued 
to be owned and governed by the Penn family until 
the War of the Revolution. It is a somewhat re- 
markable fact, that William Penn should not have 
had a single descendant who embraced his own re- 
ligious views. Were it worth the while to enter into 
any inquiries or speculations upon this point, per- 
haps it would not be difficult to offer some reason- 
able explanation of the fact, founded upon the 
known characteristics of human nature. But, waiv- 
ing such an inquiry, it is enough for us to know, that 
it was not for the want of consistency or attractive- 
ness in the religious character of the father, that his 
children deserted the Society for which he had 
labored with such earnest devotion. It is enough 
to know, that he was faithful to it, and happy in it, 
to the end. 

The children of William Penn by his first mar- 
riage were five, and by his second marriage six. Of 
the first family, Mary and Hannah died in infancy. 
The amiable and virtuous Springett, the eldest child, 
and the pride of his father, died, as before stated, in 
1696, at the age of twenty. Laetitia married Wil- 
liam Aubrey, and died childless. The visit of Wil- 

tory of the United States," Vol. II. p. 403,) that Penn lived and 
died a holder of slaves. The utmost that can be shown, by the 
evidence of documents and Penn's cash books, is, that he hired 
a few. the slaves of others. 



WILLIAM PENN 1 79 

liam Penn, Jun., to Pennsylvania, with its disagree- 
able consequences, has been already noticed. He 
was an inexpressible grief to his father. After his 
return to England, he continued to run the riot of 
dissipation, with its attendant sins. He joined the 
Episcopal communion, and endeavored in vain to 
obtain a place in the army and the navy, and a seat 
in Parliament. He undertook, in opposition to his 
father's will, which made his stepmother executrix, 
to assume the government of Pennsylvania. At 
last, leaving his wife and children to be maintained 
at the family seat at Rushcombe, he went to France, 
to avoid his creditors, and died there in 1720. His 
son, Springett Penn, the grandson of William Penn, 
and the last male issue of. his first wife, died in Lon- 
don, in 1767. 

Of the children of Penn's second marriage, 
Hannah and Dennis died in infancy, and John, 
Thomas, Margaret, and Richard survived him. 
John, the only one of the family born in America, 
was never married. He was brought up as a linen 
merchant, in Bristol, England. He made a visit to 
Pennsylvania, in 1734, and, as a Churchman, gave 
a service of plate to the church in Lewistown. His 
sister, Mrs. Margaret Frseme, came with him; and, 
as Thomas Penn had come two years before, all of 
the second family, except Richard, were in the coun- 
try at one time. 

A daughter of Thomas Penn married Archbishop 
Stuart, of Armagh, primate of Ireland; so strange 
are the alterations of principle and preference, even 
in those of the same blood. 



l8o AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

John, the son of Richard Penn, was made Gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania, in 1763, on behalf of his 
father and his uncle Thomas ; his uncle John being 
then dead. He continued to be Governor until the 
War of the Revolution. He died, and was buried 
in Bucks county, in 1795; but his remains were af- 
terwards disinterred, and carried to England. Not 
one of the Penn family has a grave on this side of 
the ocean. 

John Penn, the eldest son of Thomas, (who was 
the second son by the second marriage of the 
Quaker,) was a man of some distinction in litera- 
ture. His mother was a daughter of the Earl of 
Pomfret, and he was greatly and worthily interested 
in his ancestral colony before, and during, and after, 
the Revolution. In 1790, Parliament granted to the 
family an annuity of four thousand pounds, on ac- 
count of their loss by the war. This John Penn 
visited Pennsylvania after the Revolution, and died 
at an advanced age, at Stoke Park, Bucks, England, 
in 1834. His brother, Granville Penn, inherited the 
English estate, and wrote the life of the Admiral, 
which has been referred to in these pages. 

By the will of the founder of Pennsylvania, made 
before he had agreed upon the terms of its sale to 
the crown, he left to his son William his English and 
Irish estates, and to his other children and widow all 
his American rights and possessions. These pro- 
prietors, as we have seen, made visits and transient 
abodes here ; but the chief interest, which the family 
of Penn will ever have with Americans, gathers 
around the single character and the eminent virtues 
of the Quaker son of an English Admiral. 



LIFE OF 

JAMES OGLETHORPE 

THE 

FOUNDER OF GEORGIA 

BY 

WILLIAM B. O. PEABODY 



PREFACE 



The materials for a Life of Oglethorpe., so far as 
they relate to the events which have chiefly con- 
tributed to his renown, the establishment and colo- 
nization of Georgia, are abundant and authentic. 
Numerous tracts, containing official documents, let- 
ters, and journals, were printed at the time, the 
original editions of some of which have been con- 
sulted in preparing the following memoir. A collec- 
tion of these tracts has likewise recently been repub- 
lished by the Georgia Historical Society, in two 
volumes, with contributions from some of its mem- 
bers, forming together not only an honorable tribute 
to the memory of the founder of Georgia, but a rich 
treasure of facts illustrative of the early history of 
that State, which, though the last of the old Thirteen 
that was erected into a body politic, has by no means 
been the least conspicuous among them in the sup- 
port it has yielded to the fabric of American Inde- 
pendence and Union. 

The Life of Oglethorpe, by the Reverend Dr. 
Harris, claims high respect and confidence, not more 
on account of the author's well-known fidelity and 
habits of research, than of his clear and judicious 

3 



IV PREFACE 

method. If any reader's curiosity should be 
prompted, by this brief sketch, to extend his inquiries 
further, particularly on points of historical interest, 
he will find it amply gratified by the perusal of the 
more copious and elaborate pages of that work. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 



CHAPTER I 



Time of Oglethorpe's Birth.— His early military Service- 
Connection with Prince Eugene.— Siege of Belgrade.— Mem- 
ber of Parliament.— Abuses of Prisons.— His Parliamentary 
Services. 

" One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, 
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole." 

These were two of those pointed lines with which 
Pope would embalm the memory of those whom he 
delighted to honor. Some of them would soon have 
passed into forgetfulness without his commemora- 
tion ; but not so with the subject of this memoir. 
While living, he was greatly venerated for his gen- 
erous and philanthropic spirit ; and, since his death, 
his fame has been growing as fast as men have 
learned to honor those who serve and bless them 
above the men who injure and destroy. Under the 
dictation of that religion, which makes usefulness 
the measure of greatness, those who manifest the 
same energy in benevolent enterprises, which others 
display in works of blood, are rising in estimation, 

5 



6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

inspiring enthusiasm unknown to former ages ; and 
the time will come when all rivals will leave to them 
the field of glory as rightfully their own. 

General Oglethorpe was, in some respects, advan- 
tageously distinguished from common philanthro- 
pists ; they are too apt, as we often have occasion to 
see, to fix their whole attention on a single object, 
never looking at it in its relation to others, and, 
therefore, exaggerating it out of its true place and 
proportion ; contending with one great social evil as 
if there was no other in the world, and expressing 
impatience and contempt for all whose sympathies do 
not go with them. It may have been, in part, his 
practical education which saved him from this com- 
mon error. Such a tendency would also have been 
counteracted in him by his natural largeness of heart. 
Certain it is, that he was open as day to every claim 
of charity, and ready to cheer others onward in every 
attempt to improve the condition and character of 
their fellowmen. He kept himself free from that 
stain of selfish ambition by which philanthropy is 
sometimes dishonored ; which deprives it of all the 
beauty of holiness, and destroys more than half its 
power. 

James Oglethorpe was the son of Sir Theophi- 
lus Oglethorpe, of Godalming, in the county of Sur- 
rey, England. His mother was Eleanor, daughter 
of Richard Wall, of Rogane, Ireland. The time of 
his birth was, for some years, a matter of debate. 
When he died, some of the public prints stated that 
he was one hundred and two years of age; others 
made him still older. But Mr. Sparks, in 1840, ex- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 7 

amined the register of baptisms in the vestry of St. 
James, Westminster, where it appeared that he was 
baptized on the 2d of June, 1689; and in the same 
register it is stated, that he was born on the 1st of 
that month. Dr. Harris, however, produces the 
record of his admission to college, dated July, 1704, 
in which he is represented as then sixteen years old. 
The only way of reconciling these conflicting ac- 
counts, is, to suppose, with Dr. Harris, that there is 
an error in the record, as to the day of his birth, and 
that he was born in 1688, probably in December; 
since we learn that his birthday was celebrated on 
the 2 1 st of that month, in Georgia; and that his 
baptism was deferred, on account of the season, to 
the summer of the succeeding year. He died in 
1785, and, as he had for years been a sort of wonder, 
on account of his vigor and fine appearance, it is not 
strange that his age should have been overstated. 
Hannah More speaks of meeting him, when he was 
much more than ninety years of age, in the social and 
literary circles of London, where he showed the same 
taste, enjoyment, and power of conversation, as in 
former days. This was sufficiently marvellous ; and 
what more natural than to speak of one, as a hun- 
dred years old, who had so nearly finished his 
century ? 

He was admitted a member of Corpus Christi Col- 
lege, Oxford; but it seems that the passion for ac- 
tivity and enterprise prevailed in the family ; for two 
of his brothers left a literary to engage in the martial 
profession, and he was not slow to follow their ex- 
ample. His first appointment was that of ensign. 



8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

His commission is dated in 1710, and he held that 
rank till peace was proclaimed, in 171 3. After this 
he appears to have been in the suite of the Earl of 
Peterborough, ambassador to Sicily and other Italian 
States, to which he travelled in company with the 
celebrated Berkeley. It is not easy to trace the in- 
fluences which determine what any life shall be ; but 
such was the profound impression which that 
heavenly man made on all who approached him, such 
was his genius, his humility, and his love for the 
souls of men, that we can easily imagine a heart like 
Oglethorpe's, naturally generous, and still unworn 
and tender, receiving a direction towards benevor 
lence which no time could wear away. 

In the succeeding year, he was connected with the 
Queen's Guards. At that time, he appears to have 
made a favorable impression on the Duke of Marl- 
borough by his personal beauty and grace, and still 
more by his courage and manly bearing. By him 
and the Duke of Argyle he was recommended to 
Prince Eugene, who received him into his service as 
secretary and aide-de-camp, an office which brought 
him near the person of that great military chief. 
This high place was not without its inspiration, and 
he appears to have made good use of the advantages 
it afforded to establish his character by many acts 
of gallantry and skill, and also to acquire that fa- 
miliar knowledge of tactics and discipline, which 
was of essential service to him in later days. Noth- 
ing could be more brilliant than the campaigns 
against the Turks, in which he bore a part. He 
gained the praise of his illustrious general, which 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 9 

was never given lightly, and which, therefore, it was 
a high honor to secure and to deserve. 

In the next year, though they had suffered severe- 
ly, the Turks determined to renew the war. The 
forces of Prince Eugene were again in motion, and a 
blow was struck at the very heart of their power, by 
the siege of Belgrade. The Turks came to its relief, 
and besieged him in his camp ; but while he was al- 
most given over as lost, he made a sally, fell suddenly 
on the enemy, defeated them with great slaughter, 
and took their cannon, baggage, and military stores, 
after which Belgrade at once surrendered. On the 
1 6th of August, 17 1 7, the capitulation was signed; 
the Imperialists took possession of a gate and out- 
works, and on the 226. the Turks quitted the city. 
This was the closing scene of that bloody and dis- 
astrous war. Oglethorpe was in active command at 
the siege and the battle, and, as contemporary au- 
thorities declare, conducted in such a manner as to 
gain a large measure of renown. 

But there was no further demand for his services 
in that quarter; peace was made between the Em- 
peror and the Sultan, and the armies on both sides 
were withdrawn. He was offered rank and station 
in the German service; but when it no longer pre- 
sented an opportunity of active duty and improve- 
ment, it had lost also its former attraction. He 
therefore returned to England, and, in the year 1722, 
succeeded his brother Lewis in the estate at Godal- 
ming, he having been mortally wounded in the battle 
of Schellenberg, several years before. 

This military history of Oglethorpe was the early 



10 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

romance of his life. It was not till this was over that 
its useful reality began. His character, which was 
already high, and the influence of his family, enabled 
him to secure a place in Parliament, as member for 
Hazlemere ; a place which he held, by successive elec- 
tions, for the long term of thirty-two years. His 
great ambition was to be useful. To the praise of 
eloquence he never aspired, though he at all times 
expressed his opinions with fluency, manliness, and 
strength. He never could consent to be the slave of 
any party ; and when the cause of humanity required 
an advocate, he always stepped forward as its active 
and faithful friend. His first recorded speech was 
against the banishment of the famous Atterbury; a 
measure which he considered hasty and needlessly 
severe. 

It was not long after this, that he commenced that 
series of labors in the cause of humanity which have 
given so much lustre to his name. He happened, on 
one occasion, to visit Sir William Rich, then con- 
fined for debt in the Fleet Prison, and was astonished 
to find him loaded with chains, deprived of the neces- 
saries of life, and treated in all respects like a male- 
factor. Disgusted with this inhumanity, and with 
the system which intrusted such power to unworthy 
hands, he determined to expose and prevent such 
abuses, and, for that purpose, he brought forward a 
motion in Parliament to inquire into the condition 
of all the prisons in the city ; a difficult attempt, since 
the few, who are interested to suppress investigation, 
can always secure the sympathy of the indifferent, 
and thus create a resistance, which courage and 



JAMES OGLETHORPE II 

energy are required to overcome. He knew thac 
none would covet this thankless office, and that, if he 
presented the subject to Parliament, he must be the 
one to carry the undertaking through. He did not 
shrink from the duty ; the motion prevailed, and, as a 
matter of course, he was appointed chairman of a 
committee assigned for the purpose. Together with 
his coadjutors, he was sternly faithful to the trust. 
The corrupt practices, and the base treatment of pris- 
oners, which had been so common, were thoroughly 
investigated, and the offenders, to whom they were 
traced home, were prosecuted with the utmost rigor 
of the law. 

It was no small thing for a man, standing in such 
a social position, to turn coldly away from the com- 
mon walks of ambition to one which there are very 
few to tread, and where there is little prospect of 
gratitude or fame ; but he had his reward in the suc- 
cess which attended his labors. The proceedings 
were made as public as possible, that they might 
serve as a general warning ; and the effect of it was 
seen, for a time, in the improved condition of prison- 
ers throughout the land. Nor was the tribute of ap- 
plause withheld from efforts so conscientious and 
deserving. These labors were alluded to by Thom- 
son, in his " Winter," in language which breathes 
the universal feeling. 

" And here can I forget the generous band, 
Who, touched with human woe, redressive searched 
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail, 
Where misery moans unpitied and unheard, 
Where sickness pines, where thirst and hunger burn, 
And poor misfortune feels the lash of vice? " 



12 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

But Oglethorpe was not the man to be weary in well- 
doing, because he enjoyed the triumph of immediate 
success. He felt that the tendency to relapse, in 
such cases, would soon place all where it was before, 
unless a better system should be established, and a 
deeper sympathy with the unfortunate spread 
throughout the land. He was particularly touched 
with the sufferings of poor debtors, who, though 
they were often guilty of no crime but improvidence, 
and not always even of that, were thrown into prison 
without the prospect of release, and there treated as 
if they had been delivered over to the tormentors. 
The wretched condition of these persons weighed 
heavily .on his heart ; he studied out some way in 
which he might render them effectual and permanent 
aid, and this undoubtedly led him on to the original 
suggestion of that great enterprise, to which the best 
of his life was given, and which is now the founda- 
tion of his enviable renown. 

In the common proceedings of Parliament he took 
an active and interested part, not submitting his con- 
science, however, to those common and absurd max- 
ims which would make everyone a slave to party. 
He received no opinions at second-hand ; he used his 
own mind for himself, and whatever measures he 
thought right he approved without the least regard 
to the satisfaction or displeasure of other men. In 
this he is an example for legislators, and it is encour- 
aging to see, as we may, that he who evidently con- 
sults his conscience, however wayward and wrong- 
headed, at times, he may be, and whatever offence 
he may give to others, is sure to be honored at last. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 1 3 

In 1731, the King's speech was the subject of debate; 
and some members, of whom Oglethorpe was one, 
while they acquiesced in the vote of thanks, were 
unwilling to do anything implying confidence in the 
ministry, whose course they did not fully approve. 
Smollett says : " Mr. Oglethorpe, a gentleman of 
unblemished character, brave, generous, and hu- 
mane, affirmed that many other things related more 
immediately to the interest and honor of the nation 
than did the guaranty of the Pragmatic Sanction. 
He said, he wished to have heard that the new works 
at Dunkirk had been entirely razed and destroyed; 
that the nation had received full and complete satis- 
faction for the depredations committed by Spain; 
that more care was taken to discipline the militia, on 
whose valor the nation must chiefly depend in case 
of invasion ; and that some regard had been shown to 
the oppressed Protestants of Germany. He ex- 
pressed his satisfaction, however, to find that the 
English were not so closely united to the French as 
formerly, for he had observed, that, when two dogs 
were in a leash together, the stronger generally ran 
away with the other; and this, he feared, had been 
the case between France and Great Britain/' * 

This is given as a specimen of his manner of 
speaking; plain, direct, and manly, with entire in- 
difference to rhetorical display, and using such illus- 
trations as came to hand, however familiar they 
might be. But the expressions of concern for the 

* Smollett's " History of England," Book II. Chap. 4. The 
speech may be seen in the " Parliamentary History," Vol. VIII. 
P- 875. 



14 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

German Protestants were characteristic of his habit- 
ual feeling ; he manifested an interest in those, who, 
from their political insignificance, were not likely to 
secure a place in the cold hearts of statesmen; and 
that it was not a flourish of eloquence intended for 
effect, was shown by the zeal with which he after- 
wards endeavored to serve these persons, and the 
warmth with which he welcomed them to a trans- 
atlantic home. It seemed to him, that an asylum 
abroad would be the fit resting-place, not only for 
poor debtors and persecuted sects, but for all who 
were destitute, disheartened, and cast down. Hope 
was to be found there, only where the depressing in- 
fluences under which they had sunk could no longer 
reach them. In another country, men of ruined for- 
tunes could begin the world anew, in sympathy with 
others, whose condition and prospects had been as 
dreary as their own, while they, who had been 
ground to the dust by the pressure of social institu- 
tions, or the unfeeling arm of power, could renew 
their strength, with none to make them afraid, and 
secure for their children those blessings of free moral 
existence which they had not been suffered to enjoy. 
Another subject, which naturally associated itself 
with his great foreign enterprise, began to attract 
attention at this time. This was the manufacture of 
silk, which was first undertaken at Derby, in 1719, 
though similar attempts had been made without suc- 
cess before. John Lombe, an enterprising mechanic 
and draughtsman, travelled to Italy to procure mod- 
els and information on the subject, and, after suc- 
ceeding as well as the jealousy of the Italians would 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 15 

allow, returned with two persons who were ac- 
quainted with the business, and set up his works at 
Derby, after having secured a patent, entitling him 
to all the profits of the manufacture for fourteen 
years. The Italians began to fear lest their trade 
should be injured by his operations; and, in order to 
prevent it, they sent over an artful woman, who 
gained over one of the two natives to their interest, 
and, through his instrumentality, administered a 
poison to Mr. Lombe, from the effect of which he 
died. Their plan did not succeed to their desire, for 
the works were carried on by his brother, and after- 
wards by his cousin, with more energy than before. 
When the term of years expired for which the patent 
was granted, Sir Thomas Lombe applied to Parlia- 
ment for its renewal; but, instead of granting his 
petition, they offered him fourteen thousand pounds 
for a model and full disclosure of his invention, 
which, though cumbrous and elaborate, was a sub- 
ject of wonder at the time, when all such things were 
new. Oglethorpe took a deep interest in the subject, 
sustaining the application of the proprietors with all 
his influence, and doubtless kept in view a field where 
such labor could be more profitably applied than in 
the unfriendly climate of England. 

In the year 1707, a company had been formed in 
London for the purpose of lending money to the poor 
on small pledges, and to prosperous men on good 
security, with the general design of affording aid to 
the deserving. At first its capital was small ; but, in 
1730, it was incorporated by Act of Parliament, with 
a capital of six hundred thousand pounds. In the 



l6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

autumn of the next year, two of the chief officers, 
the warehouse-keeper and the cashier, who was a 
member of Parliament, absconded together; and it 
was found that all the capital was gone, except about 
thirty thousand pounds, and that no one could tell 
how it had been wasted, nor how extensive the frauds 
had been. Application was immediately made to 
Parliament to interpose its power, in order to secure 
a complete investigation, since there was great reason 
to believe that the fraud had been committed in 
collusion with some persons who remained in Eng- 
land, but whom no private process of law was able 
to reach. 

This was another of those cases in which Ogle- 
thorpe was most active, because it involved the rights 
and welfare of those who needed friends. He there- 
fore sustained the application, and made a speech in 
favor of it, from which an extract is made, because 
it shows an acquaintance with the subject of money 
which was unusual at that day. " For my own part, 
Sir, I have always been for encouraging the design 
upon which this corporation was first established, 
and looked upon it as a provident act of charity to 
let necessitous persons have the opportunity of bor- 
rowing money on easier terms than they could have 
it elsewhere. Money, like other things, is but a com- 
modity, and, in the way of dealing, the use of it is 
looked upon to be worth as much as people can get 
for it. If this corporation let persons in limited cir- 
cumstances have the use of money at a cheaper rate 
than individuals, brokers, or money-lenders would 
be willing to do, it was certainly a beneficent act. If 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 17 

they had demanded more than was elsewhere given, 
they would not have had applicants, and the design 
would not have proved good and useful. But the 
utility of it was apparent; and the better the design, 
and the more excellent the benefit, the more those 
persons deserve to be punished, who, by their frauds, 
have curtailed, if not wholly cut off, those sources of 
furnishing assistance to the industrious and enter- 
prising, and disappointed the public of the benefit 
which might have accrued from an honest and faith- 
ful execution." 

Another occasion, on which he exerted himself in 
Parliament, grew out of the famous Porteous mob, 
which, in all its minutest details, is familiar to the 
readers of the " Heart of Midlothian." This sudden 
outbreak of the populace of Edinburgh, lawless and 
criminal as it was, could hardly be tortured into a 
personal insult to Queen Caroline, the reigning sov- 
ereign, who nevertheless saw fit so to receive it ; and 
in order to gratify her helpless passion for revenge, 
a bill was introduced into Parliament, to disable the 
principal magistrate of the city, at the time, from 
holding any office ever after, and to imprison him for 
a year. The city was to be punished by removing the 
gates and abolishing the town-guards; measures, 
which, though of little consequence in themselves, 
were bitter wounds to its pride. All this was so 
manifestly unreasonable and vindictive that the bill 
was vigorously resisted. The gallant Duke of 
Argyle opposed it in the House of Lords, from a feel- 
ing of patriotism, in stern language of contempt and 
censure ; while his friend Oglethorpe, in the House 

A. B., VOL. IV. — 2 



1 8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

of Commons, took the same side from a sense of 
justice, declaring that there was no failure on the 
part of the magistrates to do their duty; they were 
overpowered by numbers, and, if the bill prevailed, 
it would be a punishment of misfortune, and not of 
guilt. By such opposition, the ministry were com- 
pelled to alter the penalty into a simple fine of two 
thousand pounds, to be levied on the city, for the 
benefit of Porteous's widow ; and, even in that form, 
it was by the smallest possible majority that the bill 
was carried through at last. Two Scottish members 
were then attending an appeal in the House of Lords, 
though they earnestly requested leave of absence to 
be present at the discussion. If they had been in 
their places, the bill would have been lost. 



CHAPTER II 

Moravian Petition. — Organization of the Company for the Set- 
tlement of Georgia. — Disinterestedness of the Projectors. — 
Their Expectations. — Silk. — Causes which interfered with 
its Production. 

Another of Oglethorpe's labors of love was un- 
dertaken in favor of the Moravians and other foreign 
Protestants. Persecuted at home, they looked for 
an asylum to America; but the new Colonies there 
were more or less martial in their spirit, owing to 
the wild character of their neighbors; and the con- 
science of the Moravians revolted at that military 
service, which all were expected to perform. A peti- 
tion for their relief was presented to Parliament by 
General Oglethorpe, with a speech in its support. 
The desired Act was passed, and became a law. At 
a later period, another petition, of a similar kind, was 
presented, and on that occasion Oglethorpe, in an 
able speech, made the House acquainted with the 
social system, the church, the benevolent efforts, and 
the religious character of the Moravians, showing 
how important it was to encourage the emigration 
of such men to America. Thus sustained, the bill 
was passed without opposition, and he had the satis- 
faction of doing this act of justice and mercy to that 
long-suffering people. 

The great enterprise which was destined to be ths 
*9 



20 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

labor of Oglethorpe's life was the while taking form 
in his mind. He regarded it as the chief blessing of 
the new colony, which he began to contemplate, that 
it would afford a refuge for all the oppressed, for the 
Protestants, who were suffering under the jealous 
persecution of their own governments, and for those 
persons at home, who had become so desperate in 
circumstances, that they could not rise and hope 
again without changing the scene and making trial 
of a different country. Besides this, he felt a deep 
interest in the Indians, not doubting that something 
might be done to civilize and save them, if they could 
be brought in contact with a community which did 
not turn toward them its own barbarous and heathen 
sides. He even anticipated some of the views of a 
later day with respect to temperance, and was de- 
termined to show that ardent spirits, which were 
everywhere elements of crime, disease, and death, 
were not necessaries of life, as they were commonly 
regarded. The subject of slavery, too, could not dis- 
guise itself to his clear heart and penetrating mind. 
In 1 73 1, he had been chosen a Director of the Royal 
African Company; the next year he was elected 
Deputy-Governor, in w r hich office he became the 
friend and benefactor of a slave, a man of singular 
character and attainments, who was found, on in- 
quiry, to have been a prince at home ; and, by the 
efforts of Oglethorpe, he was soon restored to his 
country, where he found that his father was dead, 
his favorite wife had married again, and war and 
anarchy had desolated the land. The history of this 
unfortunate person, who is spoken of, in the prints of 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 21 

the day, as " the man whom Mr. Oglethorpe released 
from slavery," threw light upon the vileness of the 
slave-trade, which then was little thought of except 
as a field for commercial adventure. Oglethorpe de- 
termined that the colony which he was to establish 
should not be the means of extending that traffic. 

Besides these humane inducements to engage in 
the enterprise in question, there were patriotic con- 
siderations, which had much influence on his mind. 
The large vacant tract between Carolina and Florida 
was in danger of being seized by the Spaniards from 
the south, or the French from the Mississippi, who 
were very desirous to secure the advantage of some 
Atlantic harbors, and were not likely to be particular 
as to the means by which it was done. This danger, 
which was a serious one, recommended it to the gov- 
ernment, as much as higher interests made it dear to 
him ; it was accordingly supported by public author- 
ity, as soon as it was proposed, and with favor such 
as is not often shown to enterprises whose humanity 
is their only title to regard. 

That the credit of originating this enterprise be- 
longs to Oglethorpe would never have been ques- 
tioned, but for a hasty assertion on the subject, first 
made by the Abbe Raynal, and repeated by others, 
without sufficient investigation. Grahame speaks of 
a bequest made by a wealthy citizen of London as 
the moving cause, which led to the search into the 
condition of imprisoned debtors, and afterwards to 
the attempt to secure them an asylum beyond the 
sea.* The amount of it was, that a rich and humane 

* " History of the United States," Vol. III. p. 180. 



22 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

citizen, at his death, left the whole of his estate to be 
applied to the release of insolvent debtors, and the 
government added nine thousand eight hundred and 
forty-three pounds and fifteen shillings to the citi- 
zen's bequest, with the understanding that those who 
were thus released should become emigrants to 
Georgia. But Dr. Harris, a man of patient and 
persevering research, who never followed a state- 
ment simply because it had been made and repeated, 
inquired into the history of this bequest. He ascer- 
tained that the only foundation for it was, that Ed- 
ward Adderly had given, in his will, the sum of one 
hundred pounds in aid of the settlement in Georgia. 
So far from suggesting the enterprise, the bequest 
was not made till the settlement was two years old ; 
and, instead of being the splendid and imposing 
charity, which it was represented to be, the grant by 
Parliament, mentioned above, was necessary to raise 
the amount to the sum of ten thousand pounds. 
What the Abbe Raynal says in reference to the exe- 
cution of the plan is just. " General Oglethorpe, a 
man who had distinguished himself by his taste for 
great designs, by his zeal for his country, and his 
passion for glory, was fixed upon to direct these 
public finances, and to carry into execution so ex- 
cellent a plan." 

This undertaking was far beyond the power and 
means of an individual. On that account, not be- 
cause he was not ready to do and sacrifice every- 
thing, he sought the aid and influence of others in 
alliance with his own. A general interest was awak- 
ened, and twenty-one associates petitioned for an act 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 23 

of incorporation, which was granted by letters- 
patent on the 9th of June, 1732, for the reason as- 
signed, that many of his Majesty's subjects were in 
want of employment, reduced to distress, and would 
be glad of the opportunity to cultivate waste lands 
in America, where they might earn a subsistence for 
themselves, and aid to extend the trade, navigation, 
and wealth of England. Certain persons were ap- 
pointed trustees for establishing the colony of 
Georgia, the intended province being so called in 
honor of the King, who, as usual, was represented 
as deeply interested in the benevolent project and 
every other work of love. 

The number of trustees appointed by the charter 
was twenty-one, among whom were the Earl of 
Shaftesbury, the author of the " Characteristics," 
Lord Percival, Lord Tyrconnel, Lord Limerick, 
Lord Carpenter, Stephen Hales, the celebrated phi- 
losopher and divine, and other distinguished names, 
besides that of Oglethorpe, who was the moving 
spirit of the whole. They were vested with the 
powers of legislation for twenty-one years, after 
which a permanent form of government was to be 
established, corresponding with the British law, by 
the King or his successors. Lord Percival was 
elected president of the corporation. As large ex- 
penditures were necessary, the trustees set an ex- 
ample of liberality by their private subscriptions; the 
directors of the Bank of England followed their ex- 
ample; the friends of humanity expressed their in- 
terest in the work by numerous gifts ; the House of 
Commons, sharing the general enthusiasm, made a 



24 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

grant of nearly ten thousand pounds ; and the whole 
sum, collected almost without solicitation, amounted 
to thirty-six thousand ($180,000). The greatest 
exhibition of generosity was in the request made by 
the trustees, to have clauses inserted in the charter 
restraining them and their successors from accepting 
any salary, gift, or perquisite whatever; not even 
permitting them to receive a grant of lands under 
any circumstances in the settlement proposed. 

This perfect disinterestedness of proceeding dis- 
tinguished this enterprise from all others of the kind 
recorded in history. As great efforts were to be 
made by many of the trustees, and heavy sacrifices of 
time and wealth by some of their number, it certainly 
could not have subjected them to the imputation of 
selfishness had they secured some right for them- 
selves in the lands which might be subdued. But, 
knowing how necessary it was to avoid the appear- 
ance of evil, and being really interested in the work 
as a movement of humanity, they took this ground 
in the beginning; and wisely, as it afterwards 
proved; since the reservation of the powers of gov- 
ernment in their own hands formed a sufficient sub- 
ject of complaint ; and had it been possible to ascribe 
to them avaricious and interested motives, their 
whole influence would have been lost. We ought 
not to wonder at this error in their civil system ; it 
was an age in which popular rights were little under- 
stood, and the idea that men could be self-governed, 
and at the same time well-governed, would have been 
thought visionary in the extreme. They were not 
careful to give the settlers a sufficient personal in- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 25 

terest in the soil, which they allowed to be necessary ; 
and no one dreamed that the Colonists would expect, 
or that it would be safe to indulge them with, a share 
in the counsels by which their own interests were to 
be secured. 

The country appropriated to this Colony by the 
terms of the charter was the tract between the 
Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, and running due 
west from the head-springs of those rivers to the 
Pacific Ocean ; such being the usual way, at the time, 
of making grants, in utter darkness as to the amount 
of territory which they might cover. The seal of 
the corporation was made with two faces ; one with 
two figures, leaning on urns, representing the two 
rivers, which formed the north-eastern and south- 
western boundaries of the province, having between 
them the genius of Georgia Augusta, with a cap of 
liberty on her head, a spear in one hand, and the horn 
of plenty in the other. This was to be used for the 
authentication of legislative acts, deeds, and com- 
missions. The other, which was the common seal, 
to be affixed to grants, certificates, and orders, repre- 
sented silk-worms at their work, some beginning, 
others closing, their labors, with the inscription Non 
sibi, scd aliis, (Not for themselves, but for others), 
words truly descriptive of the disinterestedness with 
which the foundations of the colony were laid. It 
was also expressive of one of their favorite objects, 
in which they were not destined to succeed to their 
hearts' desires. 

They had learned that the climate of the province 
was favorable to the sil'k-worm, and that the mul- 



26 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

berry grew wild. Though they knew that the in- 
dustry of the men would be required for severer 
labors, they thought that the attention requisite dur- 
ing the feeding of the worms might be given by the 
aged and infirm, by women and children, without in- 
terference with any other duty. Their plan was to 
engage Italians to accompany the expedition, who 
should give instruction in the art of feeding the 
worms and winding the threads. By a careful culti- 
vation of the trees, and urging the business upon the 
attention of the settlers as a direct way to prosperity, 
they hoped to surprise the nation with remittances of 
silk in a short time, and thus to convince the people 
of the importance of the colony to the mother coun- 
try. There was no defect of wisdom in the plan ; it 
shows the activity of mind with which Oglethorpe 
sought everywhere the means of success; it did not 
prosper, because it was premature ; such things can- 
not be forced into existence before their time. In 
the early days of a Colony in the wilderness, the 
struggle necessary to subdue the soil will generally 
create a distaste and contempt for the more quiet and 
domestic labors. As to introducing it against the 
wishes of the people, they had the example of Henry 
the Fourth of France, to show that such a measure 
would require the exercise of power which they did 
not possess. 

This idea of producing silk in Georgia was not 
altogether new. It appears from Dr. Stevens's 
" Brief History of the Culture of Silk in Georgia,"* 

* A valuable treatise appended to Dr. Harris's " Life of 
Oglethorpe," p. 391. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 27 

that the subject had engaged the attention of emi- 
grants to Virginia as early as 1609; and, in a pam- 
phlet then published, it is said : " There are silke- 
worms and plenty of mulberie-trees, whereby ladies, 
gentlewomen, and little children, being set in the way 
to do it, may be all imploied, with pleasure, making 
silke comparable to that of Persia, Turkey, or any 
other." Attempts were made to convince the colo- 
nists of the benefits which would arise from this cul- 
tivation and manufacture. A work was published, 
called " Virginia Discovery of Silk-Wormes, with 
their Benefits," the object of which was to show, 
that, as a staple, silk would be more valuable than 
tobacco. But the latter commodity unfortunately 
kept its ground, and maintains it to the present day, 
though it appears that the coronation robe of Charles 
the Second was made from Virginia silk, and con- 
siderable quantities of the raw material were ex- 
ported at various times.* 

The culture of silk was introduced into South 
Carolina in the year 1703; but meantime the culti- 
vation of rice had been attended with success, which 
prevented this subject from gaining any general at- 
tention. It was not wholly neglected, however; 
Miss Lucas, afterwards Mrs. Pinckney, the lady who 
first introduced the cultivation of indigo, took with 
her to England a sufficient quantity of silk for three 

* Several tracts were published, from time to time, on the 
culture of silk in Virginia. Experiments were also made, with 
some degree of success, in Pennsylvania. A specimen of the 
Pennsylvania silk was presented to the Queen by Dr. Franklin, 
as late as 1772. — Sparks's " Works of Franklin," Vol. VII. 
pp. 456, 527; Vol. VIII. p. 3- 



2 8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

dresses, one of which was presented to the Princess 
Dowager of Wales, another to Lord Chesterfield, 
and the third was in existence in Charleston, when 
Dr. Ramsay wrote, about thirty years ago.* 

The same causes which interfered with its success 
in other provinces afterwards operated in Georgia, 
though everything was done by way of instruction 
and encouragement to recommend it to the people. 
The climate did not prove so friendly as was antici- 
pated, though it was favorable when compared with 
most other countries. Sudden transitions from heat 
to cold destroyed at once great numbers of worms, 
and with them the high hopes which their proprie- 
tors had been indulging. The work was at first en- 
couraged by bounties, and naturally languished 
when such premiums were withdrawn. Labor was 
also too expensive to be hired for this purpose, when 
there were many others to which it could be more 
profitably applied. But the fatal blow, perhaps, was 
given to it by the cultivation of rice, and afterwards 
of cotton, which yielded large and profitable crops, 
much more advantageous to the producer. 

* Ramsay's " History of South Carolina," Vol. II. pp. 209, 
220. 



CHAPTER III 

Preparations for the Enterprise. — Objections to it. — Induce- 
ments offered. — Oglethorpe appointed Governor. — Conditions 
with the Emigrants. — Restrictions on Trade. — Exclusion of 
Slaves. — Difficulties of Colonization. 

But to return to the preparations ior me enter- 
prise ; it was necessary to secure a sufficient number 
of persons who should engage to accompany the ex- 
pedition. Since it was to be conducted on strict 
principles of justice and humanity, it would have no 
great attraction for common adventurers ; and, as 
the steady and industrious were generally prosper- 
ous at home, it was not certain that emigrants fit for 
the purpose would be readily found. In pursuance 
of the original design, a committee was appointed to 
visit the prisons, to make out a list of insolvent debt- 
ors whose creditors were willing to discharge them, 
to inquire into the circumstances of applicants, and 
to make arrangements to assist and encourage those 
who might be proper and willing to go. To use the 
words of Oglethorpe himself, " They, who are op- 
pressed with poverty and misfortune, are unable to 
be at the charge of removing from their miseries. 
These are the people intended to be relieved. Let us 
cast our eyes on the multitude of unfortunate people 
in the kingdom, of reputable families, and of liberal, 
or, at least, easy education; some undone by guar- 

29 



30 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

dians, some by law-suits, some by accidents in com- 
merce, some by stocks and bubbles, and some by 
suretyship. But all agree in this one circumstance, 
that they must either be burdensome to their rela- 
tions, or betake themselves to little shifts for sus- 
tenance, which, it is ten to one, do not answer their 
purposes, and to which a well-educated mind de- 
scends with the utmost constraint. What various 
misfortunes may reduce the rich, the industrious, to 
the danger of a prison, to a moral certainty of starv- 
ing! These are the people that may relieve them- 
selves, and strengthen Georgia, by resorting thither, 
and Great Britain by their departure." * 

In Benjamin Martyn's " Reasons for establishing 
the Colony of Georgia," published in 1733, he takes 
notice of the objections which were made to the plan. 
One was, that it was taking from their own country 
those whose labor is wanted at home. To which he 
replies, that those who are shut up in prison are 
certainly doing no service either to their country or 
to themselves. He estimated their number at about 
four thousand every year, who were thus lost to their 
families and to the country, and, what was worse, 
thrown among associates whose vicious communi- 
cations would inevitably deprave them, while pov- 
erty and despair were the only portion they could 
give to their wives and children. But it was not the 
object of the trustees to remove those whose only 
recommendation was that they were vicious and use- 

* " New and Accurate Account of South Carolina and 
Georgia," Ch. III. ; ascribed to Oglethorpe, and published in 
London, 1733. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 3 I 

less at home ; they therefore resolved to publish the 
names of those who proposed to go, that none might 
escape dishonorably from their creditors, that no 
father might secretly desert his wife and children, 
and that the base and immoral might be sifted out 
from the seed with which the broad fields of the new 
region were to be sown. 

One objection he endeavors to answer, because it 
so truly anticipated that which was afterwards to be. 
It was, that " the Colonies would in time become too 
great, and throw off their independency." To this 
he answers, that, if they were governed by such mild 
and wholesome laws as those of England, they 
would have no reason for dissatisfaction. He did 
not reflect that it was under the operation of those 
mild and wholesome laws that they were compelled 
to leave their homes ; and that those who found no 
place reserved for them at the table of nature; those 
who, as Swift said, had been ruined by obtaining a 
decree in chancery in their favor with costs, and 
those who had just come from unsavory prisons and 
chains, would have a less lively sense of gratitude to 
those laws than others who were less intimately ac- 
quainted with their operations. He also assumed 
that they would carry with them a lingering attach- 
ment to their native country, which would induce 
them to remain connected with it as long as possible. 
But he admitted the possibility of their setting up an 
independent government for themselves, if ever they 
should be oppressed ; and he seemed to admit that, 
under those circumstances, England would deserve 
to lose them. 



3? AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

The inducements offered were found sufficient to 
dispose many persons to emigrate; they were to be 
supplied with stores for the voyage, and supported 
for a sufficient time after their arrival, till they 
should be able to provide for themselves. 
They were also to be furnished with tools, arms, 
seeds, and other necessary articles, from the public 
stores. Lands were to be assigned them, not in fee 
simple, but with certain restrictions, intended to 
keep out Roman Catholics, to prevent settlers from 
acquiring permanent rights till they had shown 
themselves worthy, and to keep estates in the hands 
of men, who might perform military duty when re- 
quired. General Oglethorpe, having signified his 
readiness to accompany the expedition, was ap- 
pointed Governor of the Colony; he accepted the 
trust, and resolved to sail in the same vessel with 
other emigrants, that he might watch over their 
health and welfare; offering, at the same time, to 
bear his own expenses, and to do all in his power for 
the relief and assistance of others. This conduct 
on his part not only inspired respect and confidence 
in those who were to be under his charge, thus giv- 
ing him a command over their affections which was 
of much more service than his official powers, but it 
called the public attention to the enterprise; and, 
since it evidently was not undertaken with interested 
views, it was welcomed as a work of benevolence, in 
which every friend of humanity was happy, if able, 
to bear his part. 

That no one might afterwards complain of hav- 
ing been misled, all who proposed to go to Georgia 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 33 

were examined, to know if they had any objection 
to the terms and conditions proposed. Some of 
these were of a kind which, though considered neces- 
sary by the trustees, who had no interest to oppress, 
were very likely to bear hardly on the settlers at a 
future time. A rent was to be paid of twenty shil- 
lings sterling for every hundred acres on land, which 
they considered as given to them by the Crown. 
There was no power in any settler to assign or trans- 
fer his lands ; the whole was to revert to the trustees, 
if not improved within a given time; and if a man 
died without heirs male, his daughters could not 
inherit, but the property was forfeited, and liable to 
be granted to some other hands. The last provision 
was certainly discouraging; there seemed to be no 
sufficient reason for considering it a crime not to 
have sons, nor for imposing a penalty upon daugh- 
ters. As a power was lodged in the hands of the 
government for dispensing with this restriction to 
some extent, in cases of hardship, there was probably 
no great danger of its being abused ; still, the circum- 
stance that it existed was a misfortune, since it 
showed that human rights were not thoroughly 
comprehended, and on any dissatisfaction, from 
whatever cause, it afforded strong ground on which 
complaints might rest. 

Another restriction, which occasioned great com- 
plaint, was very honorable to the wisdom and firm- 
ness of the trustees. It was that which forbade the 
use and importation of rum, which was then con- 
sidered so essential to the support of life, that many 
good men lamented its exclusion as a rash experi- 
A. b., vol. iv. — 3 



34 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

merit upon the health and comfort of men. It was 
urged, in opposition to their arguments, that the ex- 
perience of all Americans had shown the necessity 
of qualifying water with spirit, whereas it had not 
been proved that men could live without it. It was 
also said that there was no market for their timber, 
in the sugar islands, without receiving rum in return. 
Another apprehension was, that, if not introduced 
under sanction of law, it would find its way without 
it; which was probably true, but certainly afforded 
no reason for giving up a wholesome and necessary 
restraint ; since the objection that it might be violated 
could be made to every law. The total exclusion of 
trade with the West Indies was indeed a hardship; 
but whoever reflects on the effect of the indulgence 
which it was intended to forbid, the misery which it 
spreads through every department of social exist- 
ence, and the withering curse which it sends to the 
home and the heart, will agree with the founders of 
Georgia, that exemption from such a calamity is a 
blessing to be purchased at any price. 

But the prohibition which was likely to occasion 
the greatest complaint among the emigrants, and 
which afterwards proved a source of constant dis- 
satisfaction, was the entire exclusion of slaves from 
the settlement. The motive for this exclusion was 
partly politic and partly humane. Francis Moore 
alludes to the former in his " Voyage to Georgia," 
saying that the object was to establish a strong and 
industrious Colony.* " It is necessary, therefore, 

* " Collections of the Georgia Historical Society," Vol. I. 
p. 96. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 35 

not to permit slaves in such a country, for slaves 
starve the poor laborer. For, if the gentleman can 
have his work done by a slave, who is a carpenter, or 
a bricklayer, the carpenters or bricklayers of that 
country must starve for want of employment; and 
so of other trades." 

The establishment of Colonies under any circum- 
stances is a thankless task, and those concerned in it 
must look for their recompense to their own hearts, 
and to future ages. Lord Bacon says, " Planting of 
colonies is like planting of woods ; for you must make 
an account to lose almost twenty years' profit and ex- 
pense for your recompense in the end. The principal 
thing that has been the destruction of colonies has 
been the sordid and hasty catching at profit in the 
first years. It is true, quick returns are not to be 
neglected, so far as consists with the good of the 
plantation, but no further." * The history of almost 
every civil colony ever undertaken shows the wisdom 
of this remark, and the discouragement which comes 
from high-raised expectations. Even in Pennsylva- 
nia, favorable as the auspices were, under which it 
was commenced, the difficulties, which the founder 
had to encounter, were oppressive in the extreme. 
Virginia, too, struggled long in her childhood before 
she grew into firmness and strength ; all manner of 
impatience and discontent was expressed by the early 
settlers in their letters to England, warning others 
against coming to share their lot. Even the history 
of the Pilgrims, though of all men best calculated to 
struggle with hardship, and unacquainted even with 
* Bacon's " Essays," Vol. III. p. 349. 



36 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the name of discouragement, shows how difficult it is 
to lay the foundations of a happy and flourishing 
State. 

The circumstance, that so much was done in aid 
of the first settlers of Georgia, did not tend to make 
them more industrious and contented. Some, who 
had been reduced by misfortunes, were unused to 
labor, and others were desperately idle; with the 
taste for exaction common to such persons, they saw- 
no reason why those, who had done so much for 
them, should not do more, and were much more dis- 
pleased that anything was denied than grateful for 
all that was given. The trustees showed a disposi- 
tion to remove all reasonable grounds of complaint. 
The law, which excluded females from the succes- 
sion, was so altered that a daughter could inherit 
land to any extent less than two thousand acres. 
The prohibition to alienate lands was abandoned, 
and all possessors of land might give leases of any 
part of their lots for any term not exceeding five 
years. The law, requiring the lands to be improved 
within a certain time, was altered after the sugges- 
tion of the freeholders. But a storehouse, which was 
maintained for the subsistence of the people, was 
kept open longer than was promised or intended ; and 
when it was found necessary at last to close it, 
though sufficient warning was given, the clamor was 
great against the measure, as a piece of injustice and 
oppression. To read the statements of the discon- 
tented, one would suppose that they had been be- 
trayed to their ruin, and that they were suffering 
under constant, grievous, and intolerable wrongs. 



CHAPTER IV 

Embarkation and Arrival at Charleston. — Savannah founded. 
— Character and Manners of the Indians. — Treaty with them. 
— Oglethorpe's Energy and Self-denial. — Aid from Carolina. 
— Visit to Charleston. — Council with the Indians. — Munici- 
pal Regulations. — Social System. 

When the necessary arrangements had been 
made, the emigrants embarked on the 16th of No- 
vember, 1732, accompanied by the Reverend Henry 
Herbert, a clergyman of the Church of England. 
The Ann, in which they sailed, was of two hundred 
tons' burden; the passengers were thirty-five fam- 
ilies, consisting of farmers and mechanics of various 
kinds, well provided with the instruments of their 
trade. One of the party was Mr. Amatis, of Pied- 
mont, who was skilled in the culture of silk. They 
were also furnished with arms for defence against 
the Indians. The hostility to rum did not extend 
to its kindred liquors. Ten tuns of beer and ten of 
wine were sent on board. Oglethorpe, who took 
passage with them, superintended the details of prep- 
aration, furnished his own cabin-fare, and showed 
the deepest interest in the comfort and welfare of 
his fellow-adventurers. 

The vessel arrived at the bar, outside of the port of 
Charleston, South Carolina, January 13th, 1733. 
Two feeble children died on the passage, but the 

37 



38 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

health of the passengers generally was good. Ogle- 
thorpe went on shore to pay his respects to Governor 
Johnson, and was treated by him and his Council 
with the greatest kindness and respect. The King's 
pilot was ordered to conduct the ship into Port Royal, 
and to supply the means to transport the colonists 
from that place to their destined home, which was 
done with the delay only of ten hours. 

On the 1 8th, Oglethorpe went on shore at Tench's 
Island; thence he proceeded to Beaufort, a frontier 
lown of South Carolina, at the mouth of the Coosa- 
watchie River, and provided with an excellent har- 
bor. The Colonists, arriving two days after, were 
kindly received by the King's officers and other gen- 
tlemen, and remained there for a time to rest after 
the hardships of the voyage; while their chief, al- 
ways active and indefatigable, went to explore the 
country. Having found a spot suited to his purpose, 
he selected it as the headquarters of his future settle- 
ment, and gave it the name of Savannah, the Indian 
name of the river flowing near it. After his return, 
on the 24th, he appointed the following Sabbath to 
be observed by himself and the emigrants as a day 
of thanksgiving for their safe arrival. Many per- 
sons assembled from all sides to congratulate them 
on their arrival, and to take part in the religious ser- 
vices of the occasion. 

In a letter, written from the camp near Savannah, 
he advises the trustees of his selection of a future 
home. He tells them that he has found a healthy 
situation, about ten miles from the sea, on the Savan- 
nah River, which there forms a half -moon, on the 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 39 

south side of which the banks are about forty feet 
high. Above is a plain, extending about a mile 
along the river, and running several miles back into 
the country. In the centre of this plain he has laid 
out the town, opposite to which is an island, rich in 
pasture. The river is wide, the water fresh, and so 
deep that ships, drawing twelve feet of water, can 
ride within ten yards of the shore.* It is bordered 
with high woods on both sides. The whole people 
arrived on the ist of February, and were employed 
at once in preparing the fortifications and clearing 
away the woods. Their only immediate neighbors 
were a small Indian nation, who, so far from having 
any idea of resistance, were desirous to be acknowl- 
edged as subjects of the English King. They were 
treated with all possible kindness ; presents were 
made to them, and they were assured that if any in- 
jury was offered them they should receive full re- 
dress. The natives were thus disarmed of the wish 
and power to injure, and made to serve as a safe- 
guard against other foes. Another letter says, that 
all the people were in perfect health, the site of the 
town having been selected with this view, after the 
example of an Indian tribe, who had made the same 
choice before. The soil was dry and sandy, and vast 
forests of pine sheltered it from the western and 
southern winds, which were considered the most in- 
jurious in the country. Emigrants were sent over 
from time to time, and, in June, 1733, the whole 
number amounted, including several Italians, to one 

* " Collections of the Georgia Historical Society," Vol. II. 
p. 284. 



4-0 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

hundred and fifty-two, of whom eleven were foreign 
Protestants, and sixty-one were men. 

Unfortunately, the Moravians were not of this 
number. In 1727, Count Zinzendorf had opened a 
correspondence with Oglethorpe, with the view of 
associating his people with the colony then proposed. 
The proposal was gladly welcomed; but the Mora- 
vians were not ready at the time when the emigrants 
sailed, and the vessel necessarily went without them. 
When they afterward arrived in Holland, they were 
induced to change their destination for Pennsylva- 
nia, where they established their home. Some years 
after, the trustees, well aware of the value of that 
simple and conscientious people, and hoping that 
their example of quiet industry would affect the 
English settlers, renewed their correspondence with 
Count Zinzendorf, and offered a large tract of land 
to any Moravian society that might be established in 
Georgia. The offer was accepted ; and, at his sug- 
gestion, a party determined to go. It was stipulated 
that they should not be obliged to render military 
service, which was against their religious principles ; 
they were instructed by their venerated teacher to 
submit themselves cheerfully, under all circum- 
stances, to the guidance and disposal of their God, 
to cherish liberty of conscience, to avoid all religious 
disputes, to live in honest and patient industry, and 
to make it their endeavor to preach the gospel to the 
Indians. The only difficulty was that the Moravian 
discipline kept them so much apart from others that 
their good example did not always reach those who 
would have done well to follow it. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 4 1 

The presence of the Moravians in the colony 
would have promised good to the Indians; but the 
founder of the settlement always had their conver- 
sion and general welfare in view, and did his best to 
secure them. In a paper which is still preserved, he 
says that he has held conversations with them, from 
which he is satisfied that they will receive Christian- 
ity as soon as it can be presented by one who under- 
stands their language and their feeling. There are 
some aspects of morality, he says, in which they are 
already exemplary. Theft is a thing unknown 
among the Creeks, though common among the 
Uchees. They abhor adultery, and do not approve 
a plurality of wives. Murder they condemn, but 
they do not give that name to the destruction of an 
enemy, or of one who has done them wrong. They 
excused these acts of revenge, by saying that, as they 
had no tribunals among them, this immediate retri- 
bution was necessary for the security of life and 
honor. It is only in requital of murder and adultery, 
however, that they allow this summary vengeance; 
in the former case, the duties assigned by public 
opinion to the nearest relation are precisely similar 
to those of the Hebrew " avenger of blood." 

.What he was most struck with in their social sys- 
tem was the absence of all coercive power. Public 
measures were debated in council by the elders, each 
of whom expressed his opinion with perfect freedom. 
When they have come to some harmonious result, 
they call in the young men, and urge them to execute 
the plan proposed with all the energy in their power. 
He was very much struck with their eloquence ; with 



42 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the strength of its painting, and its force of expres- 
sion. Tomo Chichi, an Indian chief, in his first set 
speech, gave him a buffalo's skin, on the inside of 
which were painted the head and feathers of an 
eagle. The eagle, he said, signified swiftness, and 
the buffalo strength. This represented the force of 
flight with which the English came over the waters, 
and their might on the shore, which nothing could 
withstand. The soft feathers were a sign of love, 
and the warm fur an emblem of protection; and 
these he hoped the English would always extend to 
his small and helpless people. Their bearing was 
dignified and manly. On one occasion, an Indian, 
who presented himself to the Governor, was told that 
he might speak freely and without fear. He an- 
swered, " I always speak freely; why should I fear? 
I am now among my friends ; and I never fear even 
among my enemies." Oglethorpe was sagacious 
enough to know that the greatest danger to the In- 
dians would proceed not so much from the violent 
encroachment of the whites as the base avarice which 
would supply them with the means of self-destruc- 
tion. This was one of the reasons why he endeav- 
ored to save his own Colonists, as well as their neigh- 
bors, from that taste for intemperance, which is the 
destroying curse of a civilized as well as a savage 
people. 

With that regard for justice and humanity which 
always marked his proceedings, Oglethorpe thought 
it necessary, feeble as the neighboring Indians were, 
to obtain a formal cession of their lands, and to 
negotiate a treaty, for the restraint and benefit of 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 43 

both parties. With this view, he proposed a meeting 
to Tomo Chichi, although he was only the chief of a 
small tribe established at Yamacraw, three miles 
from Savannah. It happened, that an Indian 
woman had married a white trader by the name of 
Musgrove, and had learned from him the English 
language. By employing her services as an inter- 
preter, the apprehended difficulty of communication 
was at once removed. But the old chief told him 
that the land in question, and the whole region, was 
claimed by the tribes of Upper and Lower Creeks, 
whose consent it would be well to obtain; and for 
this purpose Tomo Chichi himself was employed to 
solicit the head-men of those tribes to attend a con- 
ference at Savannah. The nation of Lower Creeks 
consisted of nine towns, containing about one thou- 
sand warriors ; with these Tomo Chichi and his peo- 
ple were connected. The other two were the Upper 
Creeks and L T chees, the latter consisting of about two 
hundred, and the former of eleven hundred, men. 

While these arrangements were made, the Colo- 
nists were doing what they could to provide perma- 
nent habitations and the essential comforts of civil- 
ized life. After finishing a crane for raising goods 
to the bluff from the river, and a magazine and bat- 
tery of cannon, a sort of preparation which usually 
accompanies the " march of mind," they began to 
erect houses, which work, as some were sick and 
others unused to labor, was necessarily slow. It is 
pleasing to observe that they looked beyond their 
immediate wants ; for one of the first steps taken was 
the laying out a nursery and public garden, from 



44 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

which the people might be supplied with plants for 
their own cultivation, and also with vines, oranges, 
olives, and mulberry-trees. 

A letter written at the time gives an interesting 
account of the chief of the enterprise, and shows that, 
of all their labors and sacrifices, he was ready to 
bear more than his part. He was very indifferent as 
to his own accommodations of every kind, but very 
careful to secure the best he could for his people. In 
sickness and suffering, he was sure to be with them ; 
but his discipline was exact and unyielding; he al- 
lowed no idlers ; all, even the children, were provided 
with something to do. All disputes were immediate- 
ly referred to him ; as he could have no personal ends 
to serve, his decisions were satisfactory to impartial 
minds. The letter shows not only the energy and 
disinterestedness of Oglethorpe, but also the confi- 
dence which his bearing inspired; a reward which 
does not always follow those who best deserve it. 

Another contemporary authority bears the same 
testimony to Oglethorpe, in a pamphlet called " A 
New Voyage to Georgia/' first published in 1735. 
The writer sailed from London for Charlestown (as 
it was then written) in 1733, and arrived after a 
passage of three months. After a short stay there, 
he proceeded to Savannah, which he describes as a 
pleasant town, situated on a beautiful bluff above the 
river. It contained, at the time, about forty houses, 
all of the same size, twenty-two feet by sixteen. The 
four lofty pines under which the first encampment 
was made were still standing, and there Oglethorpe 
himself still lived, in a house without a chimney, and 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 45 

more inconveniently lodged than any other person. 
The writer says of him that " he is a worthy gentle- 
man, and one that has undergone a great many 
hardships in settling of it, and one that the English 
nation will always be bound to pray for. It is to be 
wished, that all other gentlemen, especially those 
that have it in their power, would have the good of 
their country and of all his Majesty's subjects as 
much at heart." * He says there is every promise 
that it will soon be a flourishing country. In the 
centre of the town was a place reserved for a church, 
which was to be erected as soon as possible. Public 
worship, meantime, was attended in a building 
which was used as a school-room on the other days 
of the week. 

The town was protected by a large guard-house, 
in which were several guns mounted, and a watch 
kept night and day ; a lighthouse was building, four- 
score feet high, to be set upon the point of Tybee 
Island. After travelling a few months, the writer 
made a second visit to Savannah, and was struck 
with the surprising change that had been made in 
less than half a year. The houses were not only in- 
creased from forty to a hundred, but they had settled 
several villages at some distance from the town, and 
were fast extending plantations on the Ogeechee and 
other rivers. His impression was that no colony was 
ever established which promised so much advantage 
to England. He thought the climate the finest in the 
world, neither the cold nor the heat ever going to 
excess ; the land appeared to be good, and the water 
* " A New Voyage to Georgia," p, 4. 



46 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

excellent; the culture of mulberries and vines was 
well suited to the climate, and there was every pros- 
pect of succeeding both with silk and wine. These 
occasional glimpses at the new settlement, furnished 
by those who had no interest in their favor nor 
against them, afford the surest means of forming a 
correct judgment. It was not long, however, before 
serious difficulties rose, and statements directly con- 
tradictory to each other made it difficult to ascertain 
the true condition of the new people. 

In justice to their neighbors of South Carolina, it 
should not be forgotten that they rendered the new 
Colony their most friendly and efficient aid. They 
sent Colonel Bull, a man of energy and experience, 
familiar with the work of clearing the land for a 
settlement, who took with him men and provisions, 
that he might not burden them with expense, and 
gave them at once the benefit of his services, his in- 
structions, and his example. A detachment of sol- 
diers was sent to protect them, while they should 
make preparations for their own defence; vessels 
belonging to South Carolina were placed at their dis- 
posal; a hundred cattle and a score of swine were 
sent as a present, together with twenty barrels of 
rice ; all which substantial kindness was accompanied 
with congratulations on their success and warm 
wishes for their future welfare. In the following 
summer, Oglethorpe made a visit to Charleston, and 
appeared before the Governor and House of Assem- 
bly, when he expressed his gratitude to them in an 
address, thanking them for their sympathy and as- 
sistance in the name of the trustees of the infant 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 47 

colony, and also of the distressed persons in Britain, 
and the persecuted Protestants in Europe, all of 
whom were deeply interested in the success of an en- 
terprise which would offer to many sufferers a 
refuge, a resting-place, and a home. 

It should also be commemorated that a letter was 
received from Thomas Penn, at that time the pro- 
prietor of Pennsylvania, in which he expressed his 
deep interest in the philanthropic undertaking, prom- 
ised all the aid he might be able to render, and in- 
formed them that, besides subscribing one hundred 
pounds himself, he was employed in soliciting sub- 
scriptions from others. 

On returning from Charleston, where he made no 
longer stay than official courtesy required, Ogle- 
thorpe found the chiefs of the Lower Creeks in at- 
tendance at Savannah, for the purpose of forming a 
treaty with the colony. The deputation consisted of 
chiefs and leading warriors, about fifty in number. 
They were received with respect and kindness, and 
invited to hold a council. There the General in- 
formed them that the English, in coming there, had 
no idea of troubling or disturbing the original pro- 
prietors of the soil ; they wished to be on the best 
terms with them, and were desirous to obtain from 
them a cession of lands, and to enter into an alliance 
for the benefit of both parties. Ouechachumpa,an old 
chief, rose, and replied in a friendly speech; and a 
treaty was soon concluded,by which the Indians ceded 
lands on the Savannah River as far as the O^eechee, 
and all the lands along the coasts between the Savan- 
nah and Altamaha Rivers, including all the islands, 



48 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

and extending west as high as the tide flows. A 
reservation was made of two or three islands, and a 
small tract on shore, the former for bathing and 
fishing, the latter for an encampment when visiting 
the country. The presents, on the part of the Eng- 
lish, consisted of a laced coat, a hat, and a shirt to 
each of the chiefs, a gun with powder and shot to 
each of the war-captains, and a mantle of coarse 
cloth to each of the men who accompanied them. 
After this the Indians departed, well pleased with the 
regard which had been shown them and the evident 
disposition, on the part of the English leader, to re- 
spect their rights, and to be forbearing in the use of 
his power. 

Soon after this, Oglethorpe took with him a de- 
tachment of rangers on an excursion into the coun- 
try. He selected a place on the west bank of the 
Ogeechee River, which commanded the passes 
through which the Indians had been in the habit of 
making inroads on Carolina. On a commanding 
height he built a fortification, to which he gave the 
name of Fort Argyle, in honor of the friend and 
patron of his early years, who had borne testimony 
in the House of Lords to his military talent, his con- 
tempt of danger, his generosity of spirit, and his de- 
votion to the public good. The object of this outpost 
was to guard against surprise from the Spanish posts 
in Florida. A company of soldiers was stationed 
there as a garrison, and several families from Savan- 
nah established themselves as cultivators in the 
neighboring country. 

A time was set apart in the following month, July, 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 49 

for assigning the lots in Savannah, and marking out 
the wards of the town. The lots in the town were 
small, not exceeding a quarter of an acre ; but others 
of five acres were assigned at a little distance, where 
the settlers could raise what was needed for their 
support.* The wards and tithings were then desig- 
nated, each ward consisting of four tithings, and 
each tithing of ten houses. This was followed by a 
religious service and a public dinner, the latter being 
the usual afterpiece to all American celebrations. 

This proceeding was followed by the establish- 
ment of tribunals of justice, for which purpose offi- 
cers were appointed and a system set in operation. 
But it was easier to devise and frame the necessary 
arrangements than to carry them into effect; and 
with all the good intentions of the trustees, which 
could not be doubted, it was found that their reserva- 
tion of all power in their own hands for twenty-one 
years gave them the aspect of a body having inter- 
ests opposed to those of the people. Such certainly 
was the impression of the Colonists ; and the natural 
result was that all the inconveniences and hard- 
ships, inseparable from an enterprise of the kind, 
were ascribed at once to abuse of power. There was 
no common interest among them; the restless and 
discontented found none who were strongly inter- 
ested and determined to put them down ; as the gov- 
ernment was not their own affair, there were few 
who cared much whether it was sustained or resisted. 
In all new settlements, there are numberless causes 
of complaint and disunion; but in popular govern- 
* '* A New Voyage to Georgia," p. 6 

A. B., VOL. IV. — 4 



50 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

ments they work themselves off, without danger of 
explosion. In that age, the difficulty and danger of 
attempting to suppress them by power was little un- 
derstood; our age has learned it from many a his- 
tory, written deep in blood. 

It was the intention of Oglethorpe, at this time, 
after the first laborious efforts of colonization were 
over, to make a tour through the provinces before re- 
turning to England. His fame had gone before him ; 
and no sooner was his purpose known in Massachu- 
setts than Governor Belcher addressed a letter to 
him, containing an offer of an honorable welcome at 
his own house in Boston, which was followed by a 
vote of the House of Representatives of the province, 
in which they acknowledged, in terms of the highest 
respect, his services to the cause of humanity at 
large ; and for themselves they said : " The Assem- 
bly are well knowing of the many good offices he 
hath done this province, in that, when the interest, 
trade, and business thereof have been under the con- 
sideration of the British Parliament, he hath, in a 
distinguishing manner, consulted measures to per- 
petuate the peace and lasting happiness of this gov- 
ernment; and, as his worthy and generous actions 
justly deserve a most grateful and public acknowl- 
edgment, they assure him that this country will re- 
tain a lasting remembrance of his great benefac- 
tions." * Unfortunately, the pressure of business, 
which was never lightened, prevented his visit to 

* Alluding doubtless to the part taken by Oglethorpe, in 
Parliament, against the Sugar Act, in 1732; by which act, the 
northern colonists believed their interests to be sacrificed to the 
clamors of the sugar planters in the West India Islands. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 5 I 

New England, where he would have been received 
with an enthusiasm which the government and peo- 
ple, not always harmonious in other measures, would 
have united on this occasion to show to one who was 
regarded as the benefactor of America and the friend 
of man. 



CHAPTER V 

Arrival of the Saltzburgers. — Settlement of Ebenezer. — Indian 
Chiefs in England. — Interest in the Conversion of the In- 
dians. — Engagement of the Wesleys. — Highland Emigrants. 
— Settlement of Frederica. 

The year 1734 was made remarkable by the addi- 
tion of the Saltzburgers to the colony. These were 
Protestants, who were compelled, by persecutions 
for conscience' sake, to fly from their homes in 
Bavaria in the dead of winter. A portion of them 
found refuge in the Prussian territories ; but others, 
in the hope of being instrumental in converting the 
Indians, were desirous to seek a place of rest beyond 
the sea. Great sympathy was felt for them in Eng- 
land; and, after it was ascertained that such was 
their wish, a ship was sent to transport them from 
Rotterdam to Dover. They embarked, accordingly, 
in January, 1734, under the charge of Baron Von 
Reck, and their pastors, John Martin Bolzius and 
Israel Christian Gronau. Their conduct on the voy- 
age was such as strongly to impress all observers 
with respect for their single-minded and heavenly 
devotion; and, after many hardships, they arrived 
at Charleston on the 7th of March, at a time when 
Oglethorpe unexpectedly was there to bid them wel- 
come. With his usual kindness, he supplied their 
ship with provisions, and treated them with a gen- 

52 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 53 

erous sympathy, which they did not soon forget. On 
the ioth, they reached Savannah, on the Sabbath ; 
and " as they lay off the shore, and heard the birds 
singing sweetly," it seemed to them that, after their 
many sufferings, they had been conducted at last to a 
resting-place and a home. 

The Colonists, who knew their history, received 
them with the warmest kindness. Barracks and 
tents were provided for them till the return of Ogle- 
thorpe, who was at Charleston, on his way to Eng- 
land, but was determined to see the Saltzburgers 
provided for before he left them. He had promised 
that they should choose the place which suited them 
best ; which they described as a " place distant from 
the sea, on a gently-rising ground, with intervening 
vales, near springs of water, and on the border of a 
small river or brook; " such being the description of 
their former home. As soon as he returned, there- 
fore, he went up the river in company with the eld- 
ers, and at the house of Musgrove, about six miles 
from Savannah, they took horses, and moved in a 
westerly direction through the woods, till they came 
to a river, where the adjacent land was hilly, with 
valleys of cane-land, in which were little brooks and 
springs of water. This they selected at once; and, 
kneeling down by the river side, they thanked God 
for having brought them through so many dangers 
to " a land of rivers and fountains, a land of valleys 
and hills." With the Bible in their hands, they 
marked out a place where the settlement should be- 
gin, and there sang a hymn ; after which the pastor 
pronounced a benediction, and the name Ebenczcr 



54 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

was given to it. " Hitherto the Lord hath 
helped us ! " 

The opinion which the exiles expressed of Ogle- 
thorpe was undoubtedly sincere; it is found in the 
journal of Bolzius, their pastor, who writes : " So 
far as we can conclude from a short acquaintance 
with him, he is a man who has a great reverence for 
God and his holy word and ordinances, a cordial love 
for the servants and children of God, and who wishes 
to see the name of Christ glorified in all places. So 
blest have been his undertakings and his presence in 
this land, that more hath been accomplished by him 
in one year than others would have effected in many. 
And since the people here have so good cause to ap- 
preciate his right fatherly disposition, his indefatiga- 
ble toil for their welfare, and his illustrious qualities, 
they feel that his departure would' be a real loss to 
them. For he hath cared for us with a most provi- 
dent solicitude. We unite in prayer for him, that 
God would guide him to his home, make his voyage 
safe and prosperous, and enrich him with many 
blessings."* 

When this business was concluded, he returned to 
Charleston in company with a retinue of Indian 
chiefs, who were to go with him to England, where 
their presence, which was then a novelty, was likely 
to attract the general attention and produce a favora- 
ble effect. They took passage in the Aldborough 
man-of-war, which, after a passage of little more 
than a month, arrived in England on the 16th of 
June, 1734. 

* Harris's " Oglethorpe," p. 88. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 55 

He immediately sent word of his arrival to the 
trustees, who received him with honors and con- 
gratulations, giving entertainments as a mark of 
public respect, and unanimously voting their thanks 
for " the ability, zeal, and perseverance with which 
he had conducted the affairs of the settlement,'' and 
assuring him " that they should ever hold his ser- 
vices in grateful remembrance." From the prints of 
the day it appears that his return created a consid- 
erable sensation in England. Complimentary verses, 
which were not then the same depreciated currency 
as at present, were liberally dispensed to him; his 
name was established among men of large views and 
energetic action, as a distinguished benefactor of 
mankind. 

The Indians were provided for at the Georgia 
Office; and when they were suitably dressed, and 
had painted their faces, a fashion, by the way, not 
wholly unknown in court circles before they came, 
they were taken to the palace at Kensington, to be 
seen by the King and courtiers. Tomo Chichi was 
the orator on the occasion. He said to the King 
" that he had come to see his person, the greatness 
of his house, and the number of his people. He was 
himself too old to expect any personal advantage; 
but he hoped to secure the benefits of knowledge and 
religion for his people." He then offered the feath- 
ers of an eagle to the King, saying, " I present to 
you, in their name, the feathers of an eagle, which is 
the swiftest of birds, and flieth round our nations. 
These feathers are emblems of peace in our land, and 
have been carried from town to town to witness it. 



56 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

We have brought them to you, to be a pledge of 
peace on our part, to be kept on yours." The King 
made a gracious reply, after which they were pre- 
sented to Queen Caroline, who was in truth the 
reigning monarch. She was addressed with respect 
and good taste by an aged chief ; and, after they had 
been introduced to the whole royal family, they re- 
turned to their lodgings. They remained four 
months in England, receiving every attention which 
might inspire them with friendly feeling and respect 
for the power and resources of the country ; and they 
appear to have borne themselves throughout with 
that instinctive propriety and self-command which 
are the distinguishing traits of the race to which they 
belonged. 

Oglethorpe remained in England after their re- 
turn, to attend to his public and private duties ; but 
he retained his full interest in the colony. At his 
suggestion, the trustees prepared a regulation, which 
was matured by the government into a law " for 
maintaining peace with the Indians." A subsidiary 
measure of great importance was also taken, by pass- 
ing an Act to prevent the importation and use of all 
kinds of ardent spirits, and also to supply their place 
with beer and wines; the philosophy of the day not 
having reached the discovery that the taste created 
by temperate indulgence in the one naturally leads 
on to the excessive use of the other. Another Act 
reenforced the provisions already made to prevent 
the importation of slaves, giving as a reason the ex- 
pense of their purchase and support, and the cer- 
tainty that white labor would be brought into con- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 57 

tempt, if work could be done by other hands. There 
was a difference of opinion, as to the propriety of 
these prohibitory statutes; but Governor Belcher, 
alluding to Georgia, records his approbation in the 
words : "I still insist upon it that these regula- 
tions are essential to its healthy and prosperous 
condition." 

The attention of the Indians, while in England, 
had been directed to the education and religion of 
the whites, as the great elements of their superior 
prosperity and strength. Oglethorpe endeavored to 
deepen that impression, and also to provide the 
means of instructing them in all those things which 
it was most important for 'them to know. For this 
purpose he appealed to the evangelical Wilson, 
Bishop of Sodor and Man, to prepare a manual 
suited to the purpose. He did so without delay, and 
the work was printed at the expense of the " Society 
for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts." In 
the preface he states, that he was moved by General 
Oglethorpe's great and generous concern, and his 
well-known endeavors in behalf of that unfortunate 
people, to do what little was in his power toward 
smoothing the way for them to receive the gospel. 

The trustees, after this, began to look round for 
fit persons to employ as preachers at Savannah, with 
a view, also, to the conversion of the Indians. At 
the suggestion of Dr. John Burton, who was one of 
the Board, they turned their attention to the cele- 
brated John Wesley, then a young man, well known 
for his great attainments and earnest piety. Ogle- 
thorpe was not unacquainted with the family, having 



58 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

had some communication with the father, to whose 
published works he subscribed to the amount of 
twenty pounds. When he proposed the mission to 
Wesley, he declined at once; but he was so wrought 
upon by the representations made of the good which 
he might do, that, after a time, he agreed to go, in 
case his mother should consent. He thought it very 
unlikely that she could be reconciled to his leaving 
her soon after his father's death, which brought 
poverty, loneliness, and sorrow upon her; but, with 
that lofty spirit, for which she was remarkable, she 
said, as soon as it was mentioned to her, that, if she 
had twenty sons, she should rejoice to have them so 
employed, though she should never see them more.* 
He consulted with William Law and John Byrom 
the poet, and was so much encouraged by their sym- 
pathy and hope of benefit to mankind from his ser- 
vices, that he entered heartily into the work, from 
which he had shrunk at first, probably from the con- 
sciousness that he was better qualified for other fields 
of duty. 

Before these arrangements were carried into ef- 
fect, it was found necessary to do something for the 
temporal welfare of the colony. A considerable pro- 
portion of the first settlers had begun to exhibit the 
same points of character in their new home which 
had reduced them to distress in England; and, as 
their wants were supplied till they could rely upon 
themselves, they had not the impulse of stern neces- 
sity to drive them to exertion. The trustees began 
to look for better materials ; they saw that it required 
* Southey's " Life of Wesley," Vol. I. p. 90. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 59 

hardy, judicious, and resolute men to constitute a 
state, and that there must be at least enough of that 
description to give a prevailing spirit to the whole. 
While, therefore, they offered liberal terms to those 
who chose to emigrate, they endeavored to impress 
upon their minds that they must encounter great 
hardships, though they were supplied with lands and 
provisions for a year. The woods were to be cleared 
away, and the land subdued to cultivation, which 
was a work of toil and time. The climate was op- 
pressive in summer, and, by a curious alliance of 
evils, they were told that flies and thunder-storms 
abounded.* If they were prepared with strong 
hands and hearts to give battle to difficulties and 
dangers, they were advised to go; otherwise, they 
were assured that the colony was no place for them. 
Several were dismayed at this representation; but, 
as the number of applicants was far greater than 
could be received, there was no failure of numbers. 
In Scotland, the enterprise met with great favor; 
one hundred and thirty Highlanders, with fifty 
women and children, enrolled themselves for the 
expedition; and, from their hardy habits, they were 
thought excellent settlers for the exposed frontiers. 
Oglethorpe, who was the soul of all these move- 
ments, was diligent in making arrangements for the 
safety and success of the emigration, preparing tools, 
provisions, clothing, and other stores for the settlers, 
and comforts of various kinds for the voyage; not 

* Moore's " Voyage to Georgia," p. 9. This volume was pub- 
lished in 1744, but the regulations here alluded to were adopted 
in July, I735- 



60 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

with reference to himself, however; for we are as- 
sured, by a fellow-passenger, that, while he made 
these preparations, he paid the passage of the gentle- 
men who were with him and his servants, and 
scarcely ever ate anything but the common pro- 
visions of the ship. There were two vessels em- 
ployed, each of about two hundred and twenty tons, 
the Symond and London Merchant. The govern- 
ment offered a vessel for the accommodation of the 
General ; but he declined the offer, preferring to ac- 
company the emigrants, that he might take care of 
their health and welfare on the voyage. A consid- 
erable number of Saltzburgers and other Protestants 
from the Continent joined themselves to this party. 
The arrangements for the passage showed a re- 
gard for the laws of health, of which we can trace 
few examples in the history of the time. The ships 
were supplied by the trustees with vegetables of 
every kind that could be preserved, which were to 
be dealt out with salt provisions, in order to prevent 
the scurvy. The ships were divided into cabins, with 
gangways between them, each cabin having its door 
and partition ; in these they were disposed by fam- 
ilies, the single persons being placed by themselves. 
There were constables appointed to prevent disorder 
of every kind ; the men were exercised in the use of 
arms, and the women provided with cloth, needles, 
and thread, to keep up their habits of industry. The 
vessels were kept rigidly clean, and washed with 
vinegar and water as often as the weather would 
allow. In case of sickness, the General visited the 
patient, and provided him from his own stores with 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 6 1 

everything for his comfort and relief. Such was the 
effect of this humane and enlightened attention that 
not an individual died on board the crowded vessels 
in the long and weary voyage, which lasted more 
than three months. They arrived at Savannah on 
the 5th of February, 1736. 

The duties of religion were not neglected on board 
the vessels. The Wesleys, for Charles accompanied 
his brother, read prayers twice a day. ■ On Sundays 
they preached, catechized the children, and adminis- 
tered the Lord's supper. The dissenters, of various 
descriptions, conducted their worship in their own 
way, it being the order of the General that they 
should enjoy their faith, whatever it was, in peace. 
Wesley appears to have been profoundly impressed 
with the pious simplicity of the Germans. They per- 
formed every servile office for the other passengers, 
without allowing any acknowledgment to be made 
them; and, if they were treated with injury and 
contempt to any degree, they bore it with unaltered 
kindness and good-will. Wesley did not feel him- 
self prepared to die, and was anxious to know what 
their feeling in the prospect of death would be. A 
storm rose while they were engaged in their religious 
services ; the sea covered the ship, split the mainsail, 
and poured down between the decks in such a man- 
ner as convinced the passengers that their last hour 
was come; but, while the cry of despair rose on all 
sides, and the thunder of the tempest sounded, the 
voice of the Moravians was heard at intervals calmly 
singing praise to God.* 

* Southey, Vol. I. p. 94. 



62 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

The Reverend Henry Moore relates an incident 
concerning Wesley, which is very honorable to him, 
and also throws light on the character of the General, 
who, like almost all other men of great energy, had 
fire slumbering within. Wesley, hearing a great 
noise in the cabin, stepped in to inquire the cause ; 
he found Grimaldi, the General's foreign servant, 
pale and trembling before his master, who said, 
" Mr. Wesley, you must excuse me. I have met 
with a provocation too great for a man to bear. 
You know that I drink only Cyprus wine, which 
agrees with me best of any. I therefore provided 
myself with several dozens of it, and this villain has 
drunk up the whole. But I will be revenged on him. 
I have ordered him to be bound hand and foot, and 
carried to the man-of-war that sails with us. The 
rascal should have taken care not to serve me so, for 
I never forgive." " Then I hope, Sir," said Wesley, 
" that you never sin." The General at once put his 
hand into his pocket, and took out a bunch of keys, 
which he threw to Grimaldi, saying, " There, take 
my keys, and behave better for the future." 

After the long passage across the Atlantic, the 
sight of land was more than welcome. Wesley says : 
" The groves of pine along the shore made an agree- 
able prospect, showing, as it were, the verdure and 
bloom of Spring in the depth of winter." After a 
night of quiet rest, they went ashore on a small 
island, where they all kneeled and returned thanks to 
God for their safe arrival. Then, leaving the party, 
the General proceeded to Savannah, where he was 
received with an enthusiastic welcome. But his first 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 63 

care was to provide for the emigrants; as soon as 
possible he sent them refreshments and provisions, 
and, shortly after, visited them himself, carrying a 
supply of beef, pork, venison, and wild turkeys, to- 
gether with vegetables of various kinds, which were 
not only grateful to those who had been so long con- 
fined on shipboard, but an encouraging sign of what 
abundance could be found in a region which had 
been settled but three years. 

In some respects, he was doomed to disappoint- 
ment and vexation. Before he returned to England, 
he had made a contract, and provided materials for 
the construction of a lighthouse; but, on his return, 
he found that the work had been entirely neglected, 
which was owing in part to unfaithfulness and want 
of energy in the contractor, and in some measure to 
the use of ardent spirits, which had been introduced 
in defiance of the law. It was a disappointment also 
to find that the Germans were not disposed to pro- 
ceed to the south, to make a settlement on the fron- 
tier of the province, which was the chief object of the 
expedition, some because they apprehended trouble 
from invasion, war being against their conscience, 
and others from a desire to enjoy the services of the 
clergymen who were settled at Ebenezer. There 
was some uneasiness also in that Moravian colony. 
The pastors came to Savannah with the petition of 
the people for leave to remove, for reasons which do 
not all appear. Their complaint was, that the land 
was poor, and that the corn harvest had failed ; but 
they evidently abounded in everything, and their 
patient industry had already made the wilderness 



64 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

blossom like the rose. The General was not dis- 
posed to deal hardly with so valuable members of 
society; and, after strongly advising them to remain, 
but to no purpose, he consented to their forming a 
new settlement on the Savannah River. 

In Savannah and its immediate neighborhood, the 
aspect of things was promising. There, too, was dis- 
content; but it might be traced to the improvident 
and the idle, who found it as difficult to prosper with- 
out labor there as everywhere else in the world. In 
the town, about two hundred houses had been built, 
many of them much larger than the one inhabited 
by the Governor, which was of the small dimensions 
first erected. They stood on lots sixty feet wide by 
ninety deep, a size which gave room for ornamental 
cultivation, and secured the town from the danger 
of spreading fires. The rent of the best was thirty, 
and that of the poorest, ten pounds. Large squares 
were left at proper intervals; and these, as well as 
the streets, were shaded with trees. The botanical 
garden was situated at the east of the town, on the 
sloping bank, and included the alluvial ground be- 
low. It supplied the settlers with such vegetables 
and seeds as were necessary for the cultivation of 
their own grounds ; there was also an extensive nur- 
sery of fruit-trees connected with it ; on the borders 
of the walks were orange, olive, and fig-trees, pome- 
granates, and vines. In the warmest part was a col- 
lection of tropical plants, such as coffee and cotton, 
cultivated, by way of experiment, to ascertain what 
the climate would allow. Various specimens were 
furnished, some by Mr. Eveleigh, a public-spirited 
merchant of Charleston, and others by Dr. Houston, 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 65 

from the Spanish West Indies, where he was sent by 
Sir Hans Sloane and others to collect and transmit 
them to Georgia. Great pains were taken to culti- 
vate the tea plant, but entirely without success. 

Large squares in the garden were planted with 
mulberry-trees, and worms were fed and silk pro- 
duced without difficulty ; but there was much trouble 
with the Indians, one of whom stole the machines, 
broke the apparatus and the eggs which he could not 
carry away, and fled to South Carolina. Those who 
continued faithful had saved a few eggs; but the 
work was necessarily suspended for the year. 

A party of Highlanders, who had settled on the 
Altamaha River, were obliged to abandon their 
garrison, by the want of supplies and communication 
with Carolina. The General sent a party of rangers 
to their aid, and, to prevent a repetition of the diffi- 
culty, surveyors to mark out a road from Savannah 
to the Altamaha. Tomo Chichi furnished them 
with Indian guides. That chief, together with 
Scenauky, his wife, and other attendants, paid a visit 
to the General on board the ship, bringing a present 
of venison, milk, and honey. They informed him 
that the Uchee Indians made loud complaints of 
planters, with negroes and cattle, coming into their 
country in defiance of the terms of the treaty; to 
which he replied by a written order to the public 
authorities to give warning to such offenders, and to 
seize their slaves, if they did not remove within three 
days. At the same time, the law of Parliament, in 
relation to the subject, was sent, with directions to 
publish it to all concerned. 
A. b., vol. iv. — 5 



66 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

All this while, the General was impatient to pro- 
ceed with the establishment of the new town near 
the southern frontier of the province, for which pur- 
pose the last emigrants had come. He was appre- 
hensive lest the Spaniards might proceed against the< 
Highlanders there, if they were not supported; and 
much damage of goods and danger of sickness might 
also arise from delay. The captains of the ships did 
not like to encounter the dangerous navigation near 
the islands. He, therefore, bought the cargo of the 
sloop Midnight, on condition that it should be de- 
livered at a station near the Altamaha River. He 
went himself, in the scout-boat, which was a sort of 
revenue cutter, of so light draught that it could ven- 
ture through the channels between the mainland and 
the islands, while the sloop was to follow, more at 
leisure, with arms, ammunition, intrenching tools, 
and efficient men. The scout-boat being moved with 
oars as well as sails, they went forward without de- 
lay, the men being anxious to please the General, 
who supplied them liberally, without regard to his 
own wants. The Indians, also, begged leave to do 
their part. They soon arrived at the Island of St. 
Simons, where the new settlement was to be made. 
As soon as they could land from the scout-boat and 
the sloop, which arrived at about the same time, they 
immediately commenced their labor. The long grass 
was removed by fire, booths were erected and 
thatched with palmetto leaves, for a temporary lodg- 
ing, and, as they were not without apprehensions of 
danger, a fort with ditches and ramparts was at once 
begun. This was the foundation of the town of 
Frederica. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 67 

When these things were planned and set in order, 
he went to visit Darien, a settlement of the High- 
landers, about ten miles from Frederica, on the 
northern branch of the Altamaha River. The 
Highlanders received him in military array, making 
an imposing appearance with their plaids and broad- 
swords. In compliment to them, he wore a similar 
dress, and gratified them, also, by his hardy habits 
of exposure ; since, instead of accepting the comfort- 
able lodgings prepared for him, he wrapped himself 
in his plaid at night and slept upon the ground. He 
found the people prosperous and contented; their 
minister, Mr. McLeod, was devoted to his religious 
concerns, and would have nothing to do with any 
other. They were greatly delighted to find that they 
were to be sustained by a new town so near them, 
and also that a road was to be made, by which they 
could communicate with Savannah ; for, however 
fearless, they were few in number, and their dangers 
were of a kind which they could not meet alone. 

One who accompanied the Governor in this expe- 
dition describes Frederica as situated on the Island 
of St. Simons, on the middle of a field of the Indians, 
where they had cleared and cultivated about forty 
acres. The open ground, on which the town stood, 
was bounded by a small wood towards the east, on 
the other side of which was a fine savanna of about 
two hundred acres, affording food for their cattle. 
On the south were woods consisting of red bay and 
live-oak trees, which were reserved for the public 
service, while those on the north were set apart for 
the purposes of fire and building.* The settlers were 
*" Georgia Historical Collections," Vol. I. p. 115. 



68 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

greatly delighted with the rich forests, which 
abounded with water-oak, laurel, bay, cedar, gum, 
sassafras, and, above all, with the live-oak, an ever- 
green of great beauty for shade, and invaluable for 
ship-building. In this region they were also en- 
couraged, by seeing the abundance of vines in the 
woods, to hope that much might be done in the pro- 
duction of wine. The forests abounded with deer 
and rabbits, raccoons and squirrels. Game was also 
found in great plenty on the islands, and still more 
so on the mainland, such as the wild turkey, so called 
from the strange notion that it came from the coun- 
try whose name it bears, the partridge, the turtle- 
dove, the rice-bird, the bobolink of New England; 
while the red-bird and the mocking-bird filled the 
air with strains of wild music, such as they had 
heard in no other land. 



CHAPTER VI 

Settlement of Rights and Boundaries— Hostilities appre- 
hended.— Oglethorpe's Influence with the Indians.— Hostile 
Purposes laid aside.— Difficulties with " Carolina.— Spanish 
Commissioner. 

There was an occasional threatening of difficulty 
with the Spaniards, respecting boundaries, as early 
in the history of the settlement as this. There were 
four nations of Indians, the Choctaws, the Chero- 
kees, the Chickasaws, and the Creeks, in the neigh- 
borhood; the last of whom came most directly in 
contact with the Europeans. The sovereignty of the 
country was claimed by Great Britain, in conse- 
quence of the discovery by Sir Walter Raleigh ; but 
no possession was taken of any part of it without ob- 
taining the consent of the Indians. In the treaty of 
1670, Carolina, as granted to the English, extended 
to St. John's River, with the exception of several 
islands and some tracts on the mainland, which the 
Indians reserved to themselves; and there was an 
express understanding that no private Englishmen 
should establish themselves anywhere to the south or 
west of the Savannah River, without asking their 
permission, and giving them sufficient warning. 

General Oglethorpe, in his first voyage, had com- 
plied with this Condition, and secured this grant from 

69 



70 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the Indians ; and his object now was to know what 
was granted, and to take a formal possession. When 
he returned to St. Simons, he found Tomo Chichi, 
with his nephew Toonahowi, and a party of about 
forty of their people. An expedition was fitted out, 
of two ten-oared boats, in which he took the Indians, 
together with his own attendants, while the High- 
landers followed in the periogua, a flat-bottomed 
boat, with oars and sails, under the command of 
Captain Mackay. 

The first afternoon of their voyage they saw an 
island, which was called Wissoo or Sassafras by the 
Indians, and San Pedro by the Spaniards. As a hill 
in it commanded the passage by which boats might 
approach from the south, the General thought it 
necessary to establish a fort there, for which pur- 
pose he left the periogua, with the Highlanders. 
Toonahowi, to whom the Duke of Cumberland had 
given a gold repeater when he was in England, here 
drew it out, saying, " The Duke gave us this watch 
that we might know how time went ; we will at all 
times remember him ; " and therefore proposed that 
the island should bear his name. The General gave 
the name of Amelia to another large island, south 
of the former, which was beautiful in appearance, 
" the sea-shore covered with myrtle, peach-trees, 
orange-trees, and vines in the wild woods." They 
rowed across a fresh-water river, and, when they 
encamped for the night, Tomo Chichi chose a ground 
free from trees, in compliment to the English, be- 
cause it was one, he said, in which, if necessary, they 
could fight to most advantage. Next morning, he 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 7 1 

conducted them through several channels till they 
came to the entrance of the River St. John, which 
was indicated by two rocks covered with cedar and 
bay-trees, from the top of which he showed them the 
Spanish guard, saying, that his purpose was to fall 
upon them by night, and thus avenge the wrongs of 
his people. It was with great difficulty that the 
General could induce him to abandon this purpose, 
which would scarcely have been consistent with the 
peaceful design with which he had come. 

One of his objects was to inquire concerning a 
party which he had previously sent to conduct to St. - 
Augustine, Mr. Charles Dempsey, who had arrived 
in the Symond, with a commission from the Spanish 
minister in London, to confer with the Governor of 
Florida respecting the boundary between that coun- 
try and Florida. With this view, he visited the 
lookout and the guard-house, on the Spanish side, 
but found them both deserted. In the course of the 
night, the Indians came to them in a state of furious 
excitement, saying, that Tomo Chichi had seen the 
fire of his enemies, and was prepared to take his 
revenge immediately, first sending word to his Eng- 
lish friends, that they might be upon their guard. 
The General at once set forward in the darkness, and 
rowed to the place where the Indians were, about 
four miles distant. By strong appeals to their sense 
of honor, he prevented the assault for which they 
were preparing ; and by the light of the next morn- 
ing, it appeared that the supposed enemies were the 
very escort of Mr. Dempsey, to inquire for which 
they had come. 



72 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

This meeting was a pleasant surprise to both par- 
ties. Major Richards, who went in charge of the 
escort, informed the General that he was wrecked 
on his passage to St. Augustine, with the loss of part 
of his baggage ; he was kindly received by the Span- 
ish Governor, and the necessary repairs of the boat 
had occasioned his long delay. He brought letters 
to the General, thanking him for those which had 
been forwarded by Mr. Dempsey and Major Rich- 
ards, but complaining bitterly of aggressions made 
by the Creeks, and intimating that the forts then 
building by the English would lead to dissatisfaction. 

On returning to the place where the Highlanders 
were left, he was highly gratified to find how much 
they had accomplished, though they had no engineer 
to direct their work, and the soil, which was a loose 
sand, was very unfavorable to their operations. He 
returned his thanks to them for their zeal in the pub- 
lic service, but they said that, while there was dan- 
ger, they should consider it a privilege to stay. 

On the 25th of April, the General and his party 
reached Frederica, on their return, and the Indians 
arrived on the next day. They encamped near the 
town, and celebrated the successful close of the ex- 
pedition by a war-dance ; after which they were dis- 
missed with presents and thanks for their faithful- 
ness in the service of the King. Notwithstanding 
the friendly professions in the letters brought by 
Major Richards, it was ascertained that the Span- 
ish Governor of St. Augustine had sent to buy arms 
at Charleston, and that he was preparing to arm the 
Florida in conjunction with the Yamassee Indians, 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 73 

and to send them, in company with a Spanish force, 
to dislodge the English from their fortifications. 
The complaint against the Creeks was made to afford 
a pretext for f this enterprise; and, as the garrison 
of St. Augustine, already large, was expecting rein- 
forcements from Havana, there was a prospect that 
the attempt would be attended with success. 

This intelligence the General did not communicate 
to the people; but, not to be wanting in precaution, 
he determined to arm a periogua with four swivels, 
and to send it to cruise on the River St. John, in 
company with a scout-boat, to prevent the Indians, 
who detested the Spaniards, from giving them any 
just cause of war. This expedition was fitted out 
with arms, ammunition, tools, and provisions for 
three months, and was placed under the command 
of Captain Hermsdorff, who was to leave Major 
Richards and Mr. Horton, his attendant, at some 
place on the Florida shore, whence they could pro- 
ceed to the Governor at St. Augustine, with letters 
to acquaint him, that, " being greatly desirous to re- 
move all occasions of uneasiness upon the frequent 
complaints by his Excellency of hostile incursions 
upon the Spanish dominions, armed boats had been 
sent to patrol the opposite borders of the river, and 
prevent all passing over by Indians or marauders." 
The messengers were also charged to return General 
Oglethorpe's thanks to him for his civilities, and to 
express his desire of harmony between the subjects 
of both Crowns. Meantime, the General took all 
possible care to strengthen his defences and prevent 
a surprise. A fort was planned at St. George's, to 



74 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

command the inland passages. St. Andrew's Fort, 
on Cumberland Island, was considered strong and 
efficient, and the works at St. Simons were pressed 
on with all the force which he could command. The 
Indians, who were not accustomed to labor, were of 
great use in supplying the workmen with venison 
and other fresh provisions from the woods. Several 
of their chiefs promised to come with their warriors 
the moment hostilities should begin. Boats were 
daily arriving from Savannah and Port Royal with 
the necessary stores; in fact, the whole colony felt 
deeply interested in his proceedings, there being no 
doubt, that the Spaniards would lay w r aste all the 
settlements, if they should succeed in destroying this. 
While the whole neighborhood of Frederica was 
in this state of excitement, the scout-boat, which ac- 
companied Major Richards, returned with the intel- 
ligence, that he, Mr. Horton, and some others, were 
prisoners at St. Augustine. Captain Hermsdorff, 
not considering the post at St. George's capable of 
defence, and fearing a mutiny among his men, was 
returning, and, if he should be pursued, was very 
likely to fall into the enemy's hands. It appeared 
that Major Richards, on his arriving at St. George's, 
sent over to the Spanish side, according to arrange- 
ments made with the Governor ; but the promised 
horses and attendants were not there. In order to 
save delay, Mr. Horton offered to walk to St. Augus- 
tine, the voyage being dangerous, to give notice of 
Major Richards's arrival. For this purpose, he was 
landed, and, some days after, two smokes were seen 
on the mainland, which were the appointed signal; 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 75 

the boats, being despatched in that direction, re- 
turned with the information that a guard and horses 
were in waiting to conduct the Major to St. Augus- 
tine. His officers remonstrated against his putting 
himself in the power of the Spaniards without se- 
curity for his safe return ; but, neglecting their ad- 
vice, he went on shore, and was seen to ride away. 
A few days after, smokes were again seen in the 
same place; the boat, being sent, returned with a 
coarse writing, with a lead pencil, in German, pur- 
porting to be from Major Richards, and simply 
stating that he had arrived at the quarters of the 
Captain of horse. It being clear that nothing could 
be gained by waiting, Captain Hermsdorff thought 
it his duty to return for orders. 

The General, when he heard of these proceedings, 
determined to go in person to inquire what they 
might mean. He embarked in a scout-boat, leaving 
directions for another to follow. \\ nen he came to 
St. George's, he landed, and found there some works, 
which he repaired and mounted with cannon. He 
then set out for the Spanish coast, with a flag of 
truce, in order to ascertain what had become of his 
men. For some time, he could find no trace of in- 
habitants ; at last, an armed man was taken by one 
of his party, who produced a letter from Mr. Horton. 
eiving an account of his arrest. He was rewarded 
for bringing it, and promised to come for an answer 
next day. He did not appear; but a Spanish gentle- 
man was found, who promised to deliver letters for 
the General at St. Augustine, and to bring back the 
answers. No answers came; and, by this time, be- 



y6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

ing fully convinced, that the Spaniards were prepar- 
ing for hostilities, he sent word to the various colo- 
nies, and prepared to defend his own to the best of 
his power. 

While his relations with the Spaniards were thus 
threatening, it required some care to keep on good 
terms with the Indians. The Uchee chief had come 
to Frederica with his attendants, having taken some 
disgust at a proceeding of the Saltzburgers, who had 
cleared and planted several acres of land beyond the 
Ebenezer River, without his knowledge and against 
his orders. But what troubled them most was, that 
some people from Carolina had crossed the Savan- 
nah River with negroes and cattle, and commenced a 
plantation not far from the Indian town. The Gen- 
eral had heard of these things before, and had sent 
orders to have them remedied. For this the Uchee 
chief gave him thanks, and said that they loved him 
for having done them justice; they were ready to 
help him against the Spaniards, and, if he desired it, 
they would bring a large body of their warriors, and 
remain with him till the danger was over. From this 
it appeared, that the Indians were well-disposed ; but 
the irritation arising from the encroachments of un- 
principled borderers, of whom there were many, 
might at any time inflame their passions, and make 
them dangerous neighbors, unless the treatment of 
the English was uniformly kind and just. 

The Spanish authorities, however, were not ready 
to proceed to extremities at this time ; thinking, prob- 
ably, that, in making an assault on the territories of 
others, they might endanger their own. The Gov- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 77 

ernor of St. Augustine, after vainly endeavoring to 
gather from Major Richards and Mr. Horton in- 
formation concerning the forts and garrisons of the 
English, sent a party, under Don Ignatio Rosso, to 
make a personal investigation, who returned with the 
information that the islands were strongly fortified 
and guarded by many armed boats, with great num- 
bers of men. Upon this, it was thought advisable, 
since invasion might come from the other side, to 
release the prisoners, and to send them with a friend- 
ly deputation to the General, to make all necessary 
compliments and explanations, and to intimate that 
these warlike preparations -were wholly needless, 
where both parties were so well-disposed toward 
each other. The General made preparations to re- 
ceive the embassy, by appearing with his cavalcade, 
consisting of seven men and horses, which, says 
Francis Morse, " were all we had," by drawing up 
his troops with large spaces between them, and firing 
the cannon in such a manner, as to give the impres- 
sion that the batteries were large, which was not 
difficult, as the Spaniards were received upon an- 
other island. They were welcomed in the most hos- 
pitable and respectful manner, with entertainments, 
salutes, and presents. 

Some Indian chiefs came in at the time and repre- 
sented to the Spanish delegates what cruelties had 
been practiced by the Florida Indians on some of 
their number. They expressed their abhorrence of 
such barbaritv, and promised that the offenders 
should be punished as they deserved. To which 
Hyllispilli, one of the chiefs, gravely replied, in a 



;8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

manner rather sincere than courtly, " We hear what 
you say; when we see it done, we will believe you." 
Notwithstanding these friendly communications, the 
evidence of warlike preparations on the part of the 
Spaniards was thought so strong that the works on 
the islands were not suspended, and no reasonable 
precautions were laid aside. However interesting 
and important these works were at that day, time 
has left few traces of them. Mr. Spalding, in a 
recent description of the place, says, " Time and the 
elements, and men in pursuit of other objects, have 
scarcely left a wreck behind. The wood has been 
transformed into a cotton-field. The river, driven 
on by hurricanes, has swallowed up the water bat- 
teries and much of the fort. The bricks, too, have 
been taken away by spoilers, and the tabby * has 
been sawed into blocks to erect other buildings." f 

Some difficulties began to arise, on the other side 
of the Colony, respecting intercourse with the In- 
dians. When Georgia was made a separate colony, 
it included in its bounds the Indians west of the 
Savannah, who had formerly been connected with 
Carolina. The General had taken care to secure 
their good-will by making treaties of alliance with 
them; and, as they had been sorely defrauded in 
their former traffic with the whites, and had re- 
quested that some stipulations should be made re- 
specting the prices, quality, weight, and measure of 
articles which they sold, it was thought best that 



t 
p- 257. 



composition of oyster-shells and lime. 
Collections of the Georgia Historical Society," Vol. I 

7. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 79 

none should be permitted to trade with them without 
a license, and a pledge that their dealings should be 
honorable and just. The Carolina traders refused 
to apply for a permit, or to submit to any restriction ; 
and therefore the Georgia commissary, Captain Mc- 
Kay, would not allow them to reside in the country. 
They complained to the Assembly of the province of 
South Carolina, and a committee was appointed to 
confer with General Oglethorpe on the subject at 
Savannah. Meantime the excitement increased and 
spread. The Carolina traders freighted boats with 
goods to ascend the river to Augusta, thus saving 
the expense of inland transportation. In passing 
the town of Savannah, they were seized by the mag- 
istrates, who ordered the casks of rum, which made 
a part of the cargo, to be staved, and the crews to 
be thrown into prison. 

The conference at Savannah ended without giving 
perfect satisfaction to either party. The magistrates 
of Savannah acknowledged their error, and made 
reparation to the traders whose property they had 
destroyed. But the committee maintained that no 
charter from the Crown could give the Georgians 
control over the Indians, who always had reserved 
their own independence, and had a perfect right to 
trade with whom they would. Oglethorpe acknowl- 
edged that the Indians were independent, and not 
bound by English laws ; but he said that they had 
entered into treaties with Georgia, and certain regu- 
lations had been made, not only with their consent, 
but at their request ; and to enforce those regulations 
implied no aggression upon the rights or indepen- 



80 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

dence of the red men. He said that no permit had 
been refused to any trader who conformed to the 
regulations, and that the conditions which he made 
with them were the same with those which Carolina 
herself had exacted. In case any new regulations 
were made by Carolina, he promised to add them to 
the instructions of the Georgia traders ; and he would 
order his officers to make no distinction between the 
two provinces; but, in order to protect the Indians, 
it was necessary to require a license, a measure of 
precaution that could not be abandoned. The only 
result of the conference was of the practical kind. 
The navigation of the Savannah River was to be 
open alike to both parties ; the Carolinians promised 
not to introduce ardent spirits among the settlers in 
Georgia, and the agents of the latter province were 
instructed to render their neighbors all the friendly 
assistance in their power. 

After this conference was over, the General re- 
turned to Frederica, where he made advances to the 
Spaniards, and found encouragement to hope that 
all differences would be adjusted. But, while he 
was concluding with the Governor of St. Augustine 
a treaty, which had been made by the intervention of 
Mr. Dempsey, and on terms favorable to the interests 
of the Colony, he was arrested by the information 
that a Spanish commissioner had arrived from Cuba, 
charged with communications which he was to de- 
liver in person. In the conference which followed, 
the commissioner required that the English should 
abandon all the coast south of St. Helena's Sound, 
which was claimed as belonging to the King of 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 8 1 

Spain. He would listen to no argument in support 
of the English claim, nor would he admit the validity 
of the treaty just made; but he declared that, unless 
the territory in question was immediately surren- 
dered, measures would be taken to enforce the de- 
mand. Perceiving that the ground thus taken by 
Spain must necessarily, if persisted in, lead to hos- 
tilities, which would greatly endanger the interests 
of his Colony, the General thought it necessary to 
proceed immediately to England, to represent to the 
ministry the state of affairs in America, and to pro- 
cure that support which the welfare of the settlers 
and the honor of the nation required. Such repre- 
sentations must be made by some one who had in- 
fluence ; since the government very easily forgot the 
danger at a distance in their many perplexities nearer 
home. 

A. B., VOL. iv.— 6 



CHAPTER VII 

Connection with the Wesleys. — Mutual Disappointment. — Wes- 
ley's first Effort. — Peculiarities of Manner and Doctrine. — 
Charles Wesley at Frederica. — Returns to England. 

It was during this time of fierce excitement that 
the Wesleys resided in the colony; a circumstance 
that must be noted, since Oglethorpe appears to less 
advantage in his connection with them than in any 
other part of his history; and it is but just that 
everything which tends to his excuse and justifica- 
tion should be fully understood. At the same time, 
it is extremely difficult to sift the truth from accounts 
so much colored by passion and entangled by art. 
The principal agents and witnesses were two profli- 
gate women, whose reputation was such in England 
that the General openly expressed his unwillingness 
to take them to Georgia. By pretending a great in- 
terest in religion, they succeeded in going over ; but 
such was their subsequent conduct that, taken in 
connection with their previous history, no confidence 
can be placed in statements made by them, unless 
confirmed by better authority than theirs. One of 
these vagrants appears to have gained an ascendancy 
over the mind of Oglethorpe, which she, in her 
strange communications to Wesley, ascribed to the 
power of her charms. She used it to estrange him 

82 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 83 

from the brothers, whom she represented as libellers 
of his character and conspirators against his power. 

To John Wesley, a single-hearted man, whose 
confidence she gained to some extent by professions 
of repentance, she represented herself as too intimate 
with the General on the voyage, being quite willing, 
apparently, to bring the reputations of others to a 
level with her own. Wesley evidently believed her 
communication, and his intercourse with the General 
became constrained in consequence. What ground 
there may have been for the charge, it is not easy to 
say; the authority certainly was not of the highest 
order ; but the biographers of Wesley appear to have 
thought a faith in it essential to his defence, and 
would also have it understood that the General em- 
ployed her frail companion to gain a similar conquest 
over Wesley; and that, in resentment at the discov- 
ery of the plot, he intimated, one day to Wesley, that 
he could find Indians enough to shoot him for a 
trifling reward. It is not possible to credit, to any 
extent, witnesses so self-condemning and abandoned. 
Wesley himself, in his published Journal, has ob- 
served a dignified silence on the subject; a course 
which his ardent friends would have done well to 
follow, since no injury to the character of others is 
necessary for the complete defence of his own. 

The truth was, that it was a case of disappoint- 
ment and misunderstanding. The General, though 
he had a great reverence for religion, and treated it 
with profound respect on all occasions, had no sym- 
pathy with the spiritual character of the Wesleys; 
he only knew them as zealous and fervent men, who 



84 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

would be likely to make a deep impression by their 
preaching, and thus to serve the cause of morals and 
good order. Dr. Burton, who recommended them 
to the trustees, thought that their self-denying hab- 
its fitted them for the duty, and supposed that they 
would be willing to follow such counsels as the 
friends of the colony deemed essential to its welfare. 
The trustees, of whom Dr. Burton was one, con- 
sidered them regularly engaged as chaplains; but 
they looked upon themselves as at liberty to give 
their efforts to the conversion of the Indians, or to 
that work, whatever it was, in which most good 
might be done. But there were difficulties in the 
way of this enterprise, desirable though it was, so 
that even the Moravians, when he discussed with 
them the objections to a mission to the Choctaws, 
thought he should not go. On one occasion, when 
some Indians had attended a funeral where he 
prayed, they said they knew that he was speaking to 
the " beloved ones," to take up the soul of the young 
woman. They were asked if they would like to 
know more of the beloved ones. They answered that 
they had no time but to fight then; if peace should 
ever come, they would be glad to know. Tomo 
Chichi explained to him that they did not wish to be 
made Christians after the Spanish manner; they 
wished to be instructed before they were baptized ; 
and the same old chief afterwards, when urged to 
listen to the doctrines of Christianity, showed that he 
had been observing the lives of Christians, without 
drawing from the view any inference in favor of 
iheir religion. He said, " Why, these are Christians 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 85 

at Savannah! These are Christians at Frederica! 
Christian much drunk ! Christian beat men ! Chris- 
tian tell lies ! Devil Christian ! Me no Christian ! " 

Wesley's preaching at Savannah seemed at first 
to be crowned with great success. A deep impres- 
sion was evidently made. When the church and the 
ball-room were open on the same evening, the latter 
was almost deserted. Not satisfied with awakening 
their religious affections, he made war on all the 
vanities of the world. He was told that he would 
find as well-dressed an audience in Savannah as 
those which he saw in London. He did so, and at 
once took occasion to speak freely on the subject of 
dress ; some were offended, doubtless ; but an evident 
change was made, not only in this respect, but in the 
solemnity with which the service was attended. In 
other places, he taught the same lesson of plainness 
and simplicity; his friend Delamotte instructed a 
school, where some boys, who wore shoes and stock- 
ings, assumed a superiority to those who were not so 
well provided. Wesley requested leave to teach the 
school, and went into it without shoes or stockings. 
Under such countenance, the bare-footed party ral- 
lied, and pride, at least in that form, was driven from 
the school. These proceedings were new and strange 
to many of the Colonists, who had only expected the 
chaplain to conduct them through the easy forms of 
devotion. Still none could charge him, in this, with 
any departure from the path of duty. 

But there was another respect in which there were 
more grounds for the charge. He says, in a letter 
to Mr. Hutcheson, that he had changed his opinion 



86 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

on the subject of clerical duty; for once he thought 
it his whole duty to preach the gospel, but he was 
now persuaded, that, under certain circumstances, 
secular matters might come under his charge.* He 
thought it his duty, therefore, to take an interest in 
the controversy between Georgia and South Carolina 
respecting trade with the Indians; but this would 
have occasioned no excitement if he had not brought 
his lessons upon civil rights and duties nearer home. 
He not only preached upon the duty of resistance to 
public authority, in the case of individuals making 
themselves judges of their own rights, but spoke in 
the court against the proceedings of the magistrates 
in such a manner as to inflame the passions of the 
people, f This, doubtless, was the reason which 
tended most to disaffect the General toward him ; 
since, in a community made up of such elements, 
there was difficulty enough in enforcing the laws be- 
fore ; and the magistrates apprehended personal vio- 
lence with such a champion on the disloyal side. 
The public officers gradually discontinued their at- 
tendance at church; his interest in secular affairs, 
though it employed little of his time, impaired his 
religious influence; he lost the power over the con- 
science which he had at first exerted; and, with the 
utmost self-devotion of spirit, felt that he was ac- 
complishing little in the service of his Master. 

The prejudice against Charles Wesley, who was 
stationed at Frederica, was equally strong. It might 

* Moore's " Life of Wesley," Vol. I. p. 245. 
t Stephens's " Journal of Proceedings in Georgia," Vol. I. 
p. 19 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 87 

have been supposed that his amiable spirit and gentle 
sincerity would have disarmed all enmity; but the 
settlement was composed of rough and restless ma- 
terials; and his reproofs of sin, however kindly 
given, were deeply resented. Some of the women 
who accompanied them on the voyage were jealous 
and quarrelsome; and, unfortunately for his own 
comfort, he endeavored to reconcile them to each 
other. He only succeeded in uniting them against 
himself; and they used every effort to injure him in 
the opinion of the General, who resided at Frederica, 
for the time, and who, in his vexation at seeing the 
dissension increase, which he trusted the minister of 
the gospel would allay, was too easily led to believe 
these injurious representations. One of the vagrant 
women, of whom mention has been made, was his 
chief enemy; and, as her social position was higher 
than her moral standing, she was able to injure him 
more than would have been possible under other 
circumstances and among a more established people. 
He soon began to perceive that the General was 
alienated from him; and everything tended to in- 
crease the difficulty. While Oglethorpe was absent 
with the Indians, the doctor thought proper to shoot 
during the service on the Sabbath, which was con- 
trary to the General's orders, and for which the con- 
stable arrested him. This was charged to Wesley, 
who was assailed with all manner of abuse for it, 
and the excitement spread till the whole town was in 
arms. When the General returned, he was told that 
Wesley had stirred up sedition among the people, 
endeavoring to persuade them to leave the place. 



88 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

He sent for Wesley, and stated the charge to him, 
saying that he should have no scruple at shooting 
the insurgents, but out of regard he had spoken to 
him first. Wesley intimated to him what the char- 
acter of his accusers was, and suggested to him that, 
if he showed any disinclination to finding him guilty, 
it would materially affect the confidence with which 
the charge was made. He took the hint, and the 
accusation dwindled at once to the assertion that the 
minister had caused the disorder, by forcing men 
out to prayers against their will. It was clear that 
there was no foundation for any reproach ; but the 
General, adverting to it afterwards, asked him how 
it was that " there was no love, no meekness, no true 
religion, among the people; but, instead of it, mere 
formal prayers." Wesley told him that the absence 
of the reality was not owing to the abundance of the 
forms; for there were seldom more than six people 
at prayers. Still the General had the impression 
that, if the clergyman pursued a judicious course, it 
would be impossible for such disorders to attend his 
labors. 

About this time, John Wesley, relieved by Ingham 
at Savannah, came to visit his brother. By his 
offices, the way was opened for reconciliation with 
the General, who sent for Charles Wesley, and said 
to him, among other things, " You will soon see the 
reason of my actions. I am now going to death; 
you will soon see me no more. Take this ring, and 
carry it from me to Mr. V. His interest is next to 
Sir Robert's ; whatever you ask, he will do for you, 
for your brother, and your family. I have expected 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 89 

death for some days. These letters show that the 
Spaniards have long been seducing our allies, and 
intend to cut us off at a blow. I fall by my friends, 
on whom I depended to send their promised succors. 
I will pursue all my designs, and to Him I recom- 
mend them and you." He then gave him a diamond 
ring. Wesley took it, and said, " If I am now speak- 
ing to you for the last time, hear what you will 
quickly know to be a truth, as soon as you are en- 
tered on a separate state. This ring I shall never use 
for myself; I have no worldly hopes; I have re- 
nounced the world ; life is bitterness to me. I came 
hither to lay it down. You have been deceived as 
well as I. I protest my innocence of the crimes I 
am charged with, and think myself now at liberty to 
tell you what I thought never to have uttered." The 
explanation which he made satisfied Oglethorpe of 
the injustice of his suspicions ; he said that they were 
entirely removed. He then embraced and kissed 
Wesley with cordial affection, and they went to- 
gether to the boat. A mourning sword was brought 
to him twice, which he refused to take ; at last they 
brought him his own, which had been his father's. 
" With this," said he, " I was never unsuccessful." 
When the boat put off, Wesley ran along the shore 
to see him for the last time. Oglethorpe stopped the 
boat, and asked if anything was wanted. Wesley 
said, " God is with you ; go forth Christo duce, et 
auspice Christo." He answered, " You have some 
verses of mine; you there see my thoughts of suc- 
cess." The boat soon disappeared, and Wesley re- 
mained praying that God would save him from 



90 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

death, and wash away all his sins. This singular 
scene shows that the General was laboring under 
depression, if not disease, of mind, and this may in 
part explain his treatment of Wesley, which was so 
unlike the other actions of his life. 

After a few days the General returned. The fleet, 
which had threatened the coast at the time, was 
driven off by stress of weather, and the danger thus 
averted. Charles Wesley says, " I blessed God for 
still holding his soul in life. In the evening, we took 
a walk together, and he informed me more particu- 
larly of our past danger. Three large ships and four 
smaller had been seen for three weeks together at 
the mouth of the river; but the wind continuing 
against them, they were hindered from making a 
descent till they could stay no longer. I gave him 
back his ring. ' I need not, indeed I cannot, tell you, 
Sir, how joyfully I return this.' ' When I gave it 
you,' said he, ' I never expected to receive it again, 
but thought it might be of service to your brother 
and you. I had many omens of my death ; but God 
has been pleased to preserve a life, which was never 
valuable to me; and yet, in the continuance of it, I 
thank God, I can rejoice.' He appeared full of ten- 
derness to me, and passed on to observe the strange- 
ness of his deliverance, when betrayed on all sides, 
without human support, and utterly helpless. He 
condemned himself for his late anger, which he im- 
puted to want of time for consideration. ' I longed, 
Sir,' said I, ' to see you once more, that I might tell 
you some things before we finally parted. But then 
I considered, that, if you died, you would know them 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 91 

all in a moment.' ' I know not,' said he, ' whether 
separate spirits regard our little concerns; if they do, 
it is as men regard the follies of their childhood, or 
as I my late passionateness." ' Henry Moore, Wes- 
ley's biographer, asks: " Could these words be ut- 
tered by any man of understanding, who believed 
the Christian revelation ? " Why not ? 

Wesley continues : " April 30th, I had some fur- 
ther talk with him; he ordered me everything he 
could think I wanted, and promised to have a house 
built for me immediately." But his office of secre- 
tary was not to his taste, and he took the earliest 
opportunity to resign it. The General regretted his 
purpose, saying : " I am satisfied of your regard for 
me, and your argument, drawn from the heart, is 
unanswerable; yet I would desire you not to let the 
trustees know your intention of resigning. There 
are many hungry fellows ready to snatch at the 
office ; and, in my absence, I cannot put in one of my 
own choosing. Perhaps they may send me a bad 
man; and how far such a one may influence the 
traders, and obstruct the reception of the gospel 
among the heathen, you know. I shall be in Eng- 
land before you hear of it ; and then you may either 
put in a deputy or resign." The General then sent 
him with despatches for England; but the vessel, 
having an unfit captain, and meeting with stormy 
weather, was obliged to make for Boston, so that he 
was about three months on his way to England. 

In all the history of Charles Wesley, in Georgia, 
there is nothing which brings a shadow of reproach 
on his fair fame. He was earnest and faithful 



92 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

among a people who were not disposed to profit by 
his services. Undoubtedly he was disappointed to 
find so little Arcadian simplicity in the new lands 
beyond the sea, but evidently, in a difficult position, 
he did his best; and what more could be required? 
From the history of their connection, it is easy to see 
how the General was beset with perplexity and 
trouble. He, too, looked for something like sim- 
plicity of heart and kindness of feeling among the 
emigrants ; but he found only bitterness and dissen- 
sion, and was constantly stunned with complaints 
within, while he was threatened with dangers from 
abroad, which he saw no way to meet. His delusion, 
with respect to Wesley, evidently grew out of the 
depression which this state of things occasioned; 
and it should be remembered, that he was ready to 
acknowledge his error, and to receive his former 
friend to his full confidence again, which is by no 
means common with men high in station and almost 
unlimited in power. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Difficulties encountered by John Wesley in Georgia. — He re- 
turns to England. 

While Charles Wesley was suffering at Fred- 
erica, in the manner just described, the early pros- 
pects of his brother John at Savannah were far more 
encouraging. His great ability could not fail to 
make a strong impression on those who did not un- 
derstand his lofty conscientiousness and self-devo- 
tion. Neither could they help respecting the apos- 
tolical zeal with which he forded rivers, crossed 
swamps, slept on the ground, and exposed himself to 
all kinds of hardship in the service of the Cross. In 
the times of greatest opposition he was more than 
hated; but his strong heart, confirmed by religious 
feeling, sustained him under such discouragement, 
while what his brother Samuel called his " iron 
body " enabled him to go through with his incessant 
labors. The great purpose of his life was expressed 
in these lines, written at Savannah in the year 1736. 

" Is there a thing beneath the sun 

That strives with Thee my heart to share? 

Ah ! tear it thence, and reign alone, 
The Lord of every motion there." 

The same disinterestedness which shone through all 
his life appeared in his conduct there. A salary of 
fifty pounds was allowed for his support, which he 

93 



94 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

had resolved not to accept; but his brother Samuel 
represented that this would be unjust to those who 
might come after him, and, on that account, he con- 
sented. When he had been a year in Georgia, he 
sent to the trustees an account of his expenses for 
that time, including those of Delamotte, which, ex- 
clusive of building and journeys, amounted to a little 
more than forty-four pounds. Yet he felt obliged 
afterwards to write to the trustees to defend himself 
against the charge of appropriating money to his 
own use; a charge which nothing but the wildest 
malice could have brought against him. 

The thing which has been made the most serious 
reproach to him at the time, and in later years, grew 
out of his connection, such as it was, with Sophia 
Hopkins, whom Southey by mistake calls Sophia 
Causton, because she was the niece of Mr. Causton, 
a leading magistrate at Savannah. She is described 
as graceful in person and fascinating in her man- 
ners ; and it is said, probably on no other authority 
than conjecture, that the General was desirous that 
Wesley should marry her, hoping that it would make 
him more practical in his ideas of religious duty, by 
bringing him more under social influences, and into 
communication with other men. But, setting aside 
this gossip, in which this history abounds, it is cer- 
tain that she desired to make a conquest of him, 
whether from vanity or real interest it is not easy to 
tell. She was introduced to him as one who was 
sincerely asking the way to eternal life, and under 
various pretexts contrived to be often near him, and 
to lay siege to his heart. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 95 

On one occasion, the General invited him to din- 
ner, and told him that many, judging from his habits 
of life, thought he considered the use of wine and 
animal food unlawful. To convince them that such 
was not his reason, he took a little of both ; the con- 
sequence of which was a fever that confined him for 
some days. She attended him day and night, entire- 
ly against his will, but with a watchful tenderness, 
which a person unused to such kindness, and natural- 
ly warm-hearted, would be likely to feel deeply. She 
suited her dress to his well-known taste for neatness 
and simplicity, and manifested that interest in re- 
ligion which, more than anything else, was likely to 
awaken sympathy in him. She thus succeeded, to a 
certain extent, in inspiring attachment, and the great 
question with his biographers has been, whether it 
partook most of the nature of gratitude or love. 
Those who take the unfavorable view, like Southey, 
believe that he was desirous to marry her, and that 
he afterwards resented her giving herself to another 
while he was making up his mind. His friends, on 
the contrary, take a view more consistent with his 
character and the circumstances as they appear; 
which is, that he was interested in her in consequence 
of the interest she had shown in him. He was 
doubtful whether he ought not to make the offer of 
his hand; but, at the same time, he was not fully 
convinced of the depth of her religious feeling, and 
dared not flatter himself that she would be a fit 
companion in his religious life and duties. Suppos- 
ing his mind to have been in this state, his conduct 
becomes perfectly clear; his heart was interested in 



g6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

her more than his judgment could approve ; and with 
him it was a question of duty, whether gratitude and 
the interest which he seemed to have inspired in her 
required him to marry her, or whether he should 
disappoint her expectation, resist his own desire, and 
keep himself free for the service of his God. 

His friend Delamotte, having no attachment to 
blind him, was aware of the unsoundness of her re- 
ligious professions, and saw how much the welfare 
of his friend was endangered by her art. He there- 
fore explained to Wesley what he thought of her, 
and asked him if he had determined to make her his 
wife. He was not prepared to reply; but, thinking 
Delamotte might be prejudiced against her, he called 
on the Moravian Bishop, a single-hearted man, and 
asked his opinion. " Marriage," said he, " you 
know, is not unlawful ; whether it is now expedient 
for you, and whether this lady is a proper wife for 
you, ought to be maturely weighed." Finding him- 
self unable to decide, he applied to the elders of the 
Moravian church. When he entered into the house 
where they were met together, the Bishop said, " We 
have considered your case. Will you abide by our 
decision? " After some hesitation, he answered, " I 
will." " Then," said the Bishop, " we advise you to 
proceed no further in this business." To which he 
replied, " The will of the Lord be done." The rea- 
son of this reference evidently was, that they could 
judge better than he concerning her character, and 
the extent to which he was bound to her. As to the 
former, he labored under doubts, which he could not 
remove; but, if others thought him under obligation, 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 97 

he was ready to offer lwmself ; and certain it is, that, 
had he consulted his inclination merely, he would 
have done it before. 

The official biographers of Wesley think it neces- 
sary to implicate General Oglethorpe in this matter, 
as if he had nothing to do, in those stirring times, 
but to arrange a little intrigue of this description. 
The whole charge against him rests, as before, on the 
testimony of one of those vestals, who have appeared 
so often. She said to Wesley, that Oglethorpe had 
laid this plot to cure him of his enthusiasm ; adding, 
ik I have been urged to that behavior towards you, 
which I am now ashamed to mention. Both Miss 
Sophia and myself were ordered, if we could but 
succeed, to deny you nothing." How probable it 
was that the General would give such orders to 
ladies, and what sort of a lady it was that could make 
such a communication, the reader can easily judge. 
It was evidently part of a system, diligently pursued 
by his female enemies, to embroil him with the Gen- 
eral, and to drive him from the colony if possible. 
Dr. Whitehead, on the contrary, thinks it necessary 
to lay Wesley under some reproach, saying: "I 
cannot help thinking it would have been more to the 
reputation of themselves [the official biographers 
and Mr. Wesley] to have openly avowed the fact, 
that he did intend to marry Miss Causton, [Hop- 
kins,] and was not a little pained when she broke off 
the connection at last." But it has been sufficiently 
shown that, much as he desired to marry her, he did 
not intend it, unless he was bound to it in honor; 
and that his pain arose, not from the circumstance 
A. b., vol. iv. —7 



98 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

that she married another, but from his doubts 
whether her character was what it should have been, 
and her professions sincere. 

There was no danger of any heart-breaking on the 
lady's part ; and the sympathy manifested by Southey 
and others seems to have been needlessly bestowed. 
It was on the 4th of March that their intimacy 
ceased, and four days after she engaged herself to 
Mr. Williamson, and on the 12th of the same month 
they were married. 

The matter, however, was not destined to end here. 
A few months after her marriage, Wesley mentioned 
to her some things which he thought reprehensible 
in her conduct. " No man but Wesley," says 
Southey, " would have done so after what had 
passed between them; but at this time his austere 
notions led him wrong in everything." Here the 
biographer assumes that the things which he found 
fault with were trifling improprieties of behavior; 
and if so, his remark might have some foundation. 
But this does not appear ; it is not likely that Wesley 
would have interfered, except under a stern sense of 
obligation. The only thing which throws light upon 
the subject is a remark of Grahame, that " he was 
threatened with both civil and criminal process for 
refusing to administer the communion to a notorious 
adulteress." * To whom but Mrs. Williamson could 
this remark be meant to apply? That historian says 
that the private journal of Charles Wesley was sub- 
mitted to him by his surviving daughter, Sarah, and 
the reader is left to infer that this was a part of the 

* Grahame's " History of the United States," Vol. III. p. 200. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 99 

information which it contained. Certainly, if it was 
so, and even if John Wesley had reason to suppose 
her guilty of that sin, it affords a full explanation of 
his proceeding, and shows the painful necessity, and, 
at the same time, the generous forbearance, of the 
course which he pursued. 

The lady was, naturally enough, troubled under 
these circumstances; but the unpopularity of the 
clergyman induced many others to take up the cause, 
which she perhaps would have forborne to press ; par- 
ticularly her husband, who was determined to carry 
it through. Wesley, not to bring her to open shame, 
took ground upon the rules of the church, which re- 
quire that those who intend to partake of the com- 
munion shall signify their purpose to the curate be- 
forehand ; and that, if any has done wrong, the 
curate shall warn him not to come to the table till he 
declares himself to have repented. As, in compliance 
with the latter of these rules, he had communicated 
with her on the subject, and had received no satis- 
faction, and as she had given him no notice of her 
design to communicate, after long neglecting the 
table, he repelled her from the communion, as he 
thought himself in duty bound. 

There was an obvious reason why those who sym- 
pathized with Mrs. Williamson should be silent con- 
cerning the real cause of this exclusion, and ascribe 
it to a spirit of revenge. Mr. Causton was so much 
excited as to read to all who would hear them pas- 
sages of Wesley's former letters to his niece, chosen 
in order to sustain this view of the subject. Wesley, 
meantime, expressed feelings not very likely to be 



IOO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

associated with angry passion. " I sat still at home, 
and, I thank God, easy, having committed my cause 
to Him ; and remembering his word, ' Blessed is the 
man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tried, 
he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord 
hath promised to them that love him.' " But his 
enemies were active, and, the day after her exclusion, 
a warrant was served upon him, and he was carried 
before the recorder and magistrate of Savannah, on 
the charge of Williamson, first for defaming his 
wife, and secondly for repelling her, without cause, 
from the communion. To the first charge he op- 
posed his denial, and the second being an ecclesiasti- 
cal matter only, he denied the power of the court to 
call him to account. He was told, nevertheless, that 
he must appear before the next court ; but when Wil- 
liamson desired that bail should be given, he was 
told that Mr. Wesley's word was sufficient. Mr. 
Causton demanded of him that he should state before 
the court the reasons for his proceeding as he did ; 
but Wesley said that he apprehended injurious con- 
sequences might arise from his doing so, and it 
would be better that the whole ci i T riect should be laid 
before the trustees. 

As Mr. Stephens testifies, this matter was the chief 
subject of interest in Savannah and filled it with 
scandal and strife.* At the request of some of the 
communicants, Wesley drew up a short statement, 
which he read after evening prayers. By way of 
reprisal, Mrs. Williamson made an affidavit, in 
which she stated that Wesley had .offered himself to 
* Stephens's " Journal," Vol. I. pp. 36-47. 



JA.MES OGLETHORPE IOI 

her many times, and been rejected, which certainly 
was untrue. He desired a copy of it, and was told 
by Mr. Causton that he could find it in any paper in 
America. A grand jury was summoned, consisting 
of fifty persons, instead of fifteen, the usual number. 
One of them was a Papist ; one a Frenchman, who 
did not speak English; fifteen were dissenters, and 
therefore not the proper judges of church discipline; 
and many were professed enemies of Wesley, who 
had publicly threatened him with revenge. Causton 
addressed this singular body in a speech exhorting 
them to resist all spiritual tyranny, and furnished 
them a list of grievances, which, with some small 
alterations, was handed in as a true bill. It con- 
tained ten counts, one of which was for writing and 
speaking to Mrs. Williamson without her husband's 
consent, another for excluding her from the com- 
munion, and all the rest related to his discharge of 
clerical duties. 

Mrs. Williamson was examined and testified that 
she had no objection to make to Mr. Wesley's con- 
duct before her marriage. Mr. Causton, on exam- 
ination, acknowledged that if Mr. Wesley had asked 
his consent for his niece, he should not have refused 
it; while Mrs. Causton testified what was most to 
the purpose, from which it appeared that it was at 
her desire that Wesley had written to Mrs. William- 
son that warning respecting her conduct which was 
ascribed to revenge, and from which all the tumult 
arose ; a fact by which Wesley might at any moment 
have justified himself, but which his delicacy induced 
him to conceal By this time, it was tolerably clear 



102 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

that nothing would be made out against Wesley; 
and that so numerous a grand jury might not come 
together for no purpose, they took occasion to enter 
into an investigation of the whole public history of 
Mr. Causton himself, for which purpose they sum- 
moned witnesses ; but this course was so unpalatable 
to him that he immediately adjourned their meeting 
to a future day. 

When Wesley appeared before the court, he de- 
clared that, as nine of the counts in the indictment 
related to ecclesiastical matters, they did not come 
under the cognizance of that tribunal. But the tenth, 
concerning his writing and speaking to Mrs. Wil- 
liamson, was of a secular nature, and on that charge 
he desired to be brought to trial. He urged this with 
much earnestness, saying: " Those who are of- 
fended with me may then see whether I have done 
wrong to any one ; or whether I have not rather de- 
served the thanks of Mrs. Williamson, Mr. Causton, 
and the whole family." By this time, twelve of the 
grand jury were moved to draw up a protest against 
the proceedings of the majority, to be forwarded to 
the trustees ; but it was in vain that he demanded a 
trial ; again and again he appeared ; but as often the 
case was put aside and his claims disregarded. The 
object evidently was to wear out his patience till he 
should leave the colony, without that public recogni- 
tion of his innocence which he had a right to demand. 

After some months spent in this way, he deter- 
mined to return to England, and he set up a notice in 
the public square requesting all who had borrowed 
his books to return them before he left the country. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE IO3 

To keep up appearances against him, the magistrates 
required security for his answering in court, and 
published orders to constables and sentinels to pre- 
vent his leaving the colony ; orders, however, which 
were not meant to be obeyed. He went to a happier 
home and a more extended field of labor ; but, though 
some have represented this early part of his history 
as not in harmony with his later life, it will be found, 
on examination, that he was spiritual, conscientious, 
and devout, as in later years ; and there can be no 
doubt that the harvest which Whitefield, his active 
and intrepid successor, reaped in Georgia, was 
owing, in a great measure, to seed which Wesley had 
sown. 

This account of the Wesleys has been presented 
somewhat at large, because they have been unreason- 
ably censured, and quite as injudiciously defended, 
by those who think it necessary to destroy the Gen- 
eral's reputation in order to vindicate theirs. It will 
be remembered that Charles Wesley had finished his 
course in Georgia in the preceding year. Whatever 
John Wesley ever knew to the General's disadvan- 
tage, he must have been acquainted with before the 
General or he left the country; and yet it appears 
that, in the Spring of the next year, he writes to him 
in the following terms, which he could not have used 
if he had lost his respect for him, or believed him the 
instigator of pitiful intrigues against him. In a let- 
ter to General Oglethorpe, in England, dated Febru- 
ary 24th, T737, in which he alludes to charges made 
against him, he says : " If, as I shall hope till strong 
proof appear, your heart was right before God ; if it 



104 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

was your real design to promote the glory of God by 
promoting peace and love among men, let not your 
heart be troubled ; the God whom you serve is able 
to deliver you. Perhaps, in some things, you have 
shown you are but a man; perhaps I myself may 
have a little to complain of; but what a train of 
benefits have I received to lay in the balance against 
it ! I bless God that ever you was born. I acknowl- 
edge his exceeding mercy in casting me into your 
hands. I own your generous kindness all the time 
we were at sea ; I am indebted to you for a thousand 
favors here. Why, then, the least I can say is, 
though all men should revile you, yet, if God shall 
strengthen me, so will not I." John Wesley was 
never suspected of any want of sincerity; and yet, 
according to some of his friends, he addressed words 
to a man whom he knew to be corrupt and licentious, 
and who, he believed, had laid plans to ruin his vir- 
tue and reputation, and even had employed others to 
take his life. Believe it who will. 

The journal of John Wesley is silent with respect 
to these particulars just adverted to. This charge 
against Oglethorpe is not sustained by him. Gra- 
hame says that an aged friend of his was in a com- 
pany in London, where Wesley first met the General 
after his return from America ; the latter approached 
Wesley, and respectfully kissed his hand. Sarah 
Wesley assured him that both her father and uncle 
always expressed the kindest feelings toward him. 
His conduct toward them at times in America, they 
were unwilling to discuss ; whenever they referred to 
it, they spoke of it as an unfortunate delusion, which 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 105 

was more to be lamented than condemned. Such 
conduct was certainly honorable; for there is no 
doubt of his having treated them with unkindness in 
consequence of the malicious charges of their ene- 
mies ; and it also gives testimony that, whatever rea- 
sons for complaint he might have given, a deep feel- 
ing of mutual respect existed. They, doubtless, 
looked on him as a man of the world, and he re- 
garded them as enthusiasts ; but each party did jus- 
tice to the great merits and virtues of the other. 



CHAPTER IX 

Whitefield's first Visit to Georgia. — Establishment of his 
Orphan House. — Oglethorpe returns to England. — Appointed 
Commander-in-chief of Carolina and Georgia, on the Pros- 
pect of a Spanish War, and goes back to Georgia with a 
Regiment of Troops. 

When Charles Wesley returned to England, he 
encouraged a desire, which the celebrated Whitefield 
had formed, to preach the gospel in Georgia, believ- 
ing that his fiery heart and resistless eloquence might 
be able to deal with obstacles which more quiet 
spirits were unable to subdue. He addressed him 
in inspiring words : 

" Servant of God ! the summons hear ! 

Thy Master calls ! arise ! obey ! 
The tokens of his will appear ; 

His providence points out the way. 

u Champion of God ! thy Lord proclaim ! 

Jesus alone resolve to know ; 
Tread down thy foes in Jesus' name, 

And, conquering and to conquer, go ! " 

It was not that Charles Wesley wished to expose 
others to trials from which he himself had fled. He 
was himself determined to return, but, much to the 
disappointment of General Oglethorpe, a dangerous 
illness prevented. The vessel which carried out 

1 06 



JAMES OGLETHORPE IO7 

Whitefield was in the Downs on her outward pas- 
sage, when that in which John Wesley returned was 
about to anchor on the shore of England. When he 
arrived in Georgia, he was unpleasantly struck with 
the aspect of the young colony, and saw that it was 
quite possible to carry across the deep the same dis- 
positions which had made them unprosperous and 
unhappy at home. But so far from being discour- 
aged at this, he regarded it as an inspiration to his 
energies; and he called them to repentance and re- 
form with a voice of matchless power. He was par- 
ticularly affected by the condition of the children. 
The idea of an Orphan House had been suggested 
to him by Charles Wesley ; and, believing this to be 
the most essential want of the settlement, he set him- 
self about the establishment of one with that force 
of character which enabled him to accomplish what- 
ever he haji at heart. He was delighted with a simi- 
lar institution of the Saltzburgers, which he saw at 
Ebenezer. Indeed, everything about the settlement 
of those industrious and faithful exiles answered to 
his ideas of a Christian community; and, like Wes- 
ley, he thought it a privilege to look to them for in- 
struction and example. 

It was not in his nature to rest ; and, after visiting 
the various settlements, where, instead of finding: 
cause for depression, he wondered rather that so 
much was done, he returned to England, after an 
absence of less than a year, to receive priest's orders, 
and to secure funds for the proposed Orphan House. 
The trustees readily granted five hundred acres of 
land for the purpose, and, though he insisted on hav- 



108 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

ing no salary, gave him the living of Savannah. He 
made public appeals in behalf of the contemplated 
charity with perfect success. In a little more than 
three years, he returned to Georgia, where he laid 
the foundation of the building on the i ith of March, 
1742. Afterwards, he exerted himself in its favor, 
as he travelled through England and America, and 
had the satisfaction of believing that he had ren- 
dered permanent service to the cause of humanity 
and religion.* 

When General Oglethorpe returned to England, 
in the beginning of the year 1737 he found the Eng- 
lish people in a state of sufficient excitement and 
ready to do all that might be necessary to secure the 
Colonies from the grasp of Spain. He received the 
unanimous thanks of the trustees for his services; 
and, in compliance with his suggestion, the Board 
petitioned that a regiment might be raised for the de- 
fence and protection of Georgia. This was readily 
granted; and he was appointed General and Com- 
mander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces in Carolina 
and Georgia ; with commission to raise a regiment, 
consisting of six companies, of one hundred men 
each, to which a company of grenadiers was after- 
wards added. In making his appointments, he dis- 
dained to sell commissions, according to the usual 



* During Whitefield's several visits to America, he formed 
an intimate friendship with Franklin, who rendered him ef- 
fectual aid towards collecting funds for his Orphan House. 
In writing to his brother, August 6th, 1747, Franklin says: 
" I am glad that Mr. Whitefield is safe arrived, and recovered 
his health. He is a good man, and I love him." — Sparks's 
" Works of Franklin," Vol. VII. p. 74- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE IO9 

practice, but appointed men of character and stand- 
ing, and engaged twenty young gentlemen to serve 
as cadets, who were afterwards promoted according 
to their merit, supplying them with what was neces- 
sary to pay the fees of their commissions, and pro- 
vide their outfit as officers; an extent of generosity 
very unusual in the service at that or any other day. 
In order to induce the soldiers who might enlist to 
become settlers, every man was allowed to take a 
wife with him, with additional pay and rations for 
her support. Part of the regiment embarked early 
in the Spring, and arrived at Charleston in May. 
The remainder sailed in company with the General 
in the Hector and Bland ford men-of-war, and five 
transports, which, after a passage of little more than 
two months, arrived at St. Simons in September of 
the same year. 

His first object was to put every frontier post in 
a state of defence, assigning different corps for the 
services to which they were best adapted; some to 
garrison the forts, some to range the woods, others, 
light armed, for expeditions at short warning. Ves- 
sels were stationed on the coast to give notice of any 
approach of enemies by sea, as the Spaniards were 
understood to be preparing a force for embarkation 
at Havana, and it was supposed that Georgia was 
most likely to be the point where the blow would 
fall. The General set the example to the troops of 
activity and contempt of hardship. He always lay 
in tents, though the men had houses, or huts, in 
which they could have fires, which were often 
needed; he never, in his public capacity, required 



IIO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

others to do or suffer anything where he was not 
willing to go before and set the first example. 

This was not, however, sufficient to prevent all 
disaffection among the forces. Some appeared to 
have enlisted with the view of corrupting others. 
One Shannon, a Catholic, had merited the severest 
punishment at Spithead, and afterwards at St. 
Simons; but, instead of suffering death, he was 
whipped and drummed out of the regiment. General 
Oglethorpe discovered his true character on the voy- 
age, but was unwilling to take his life. After leav- 
ing the army, he endeavored to make trouble with 
the Indians, but was taken and thrown into prison at 
Savannah, from which he escaped, and, in conjunc- 
tion with a Spaniard, murdered two persons at Fort 
Argyle. For this crime, they were taken at the 
Uchee town, and brought to Savannah, where they 
were executed. It appeared that, on the voyage, he 
had money in plenty, and there was reason to sup- 
pose that he was a treacherous agent for others. 

Shortly after this, but not in connection with it, 
another difficulty arose. Some of the soldiers, who 
came from Gibraltar, had received their provisions 
for six months, in addition to their pay. When the 
provisions were exhausted, they were to live upon 
their pay; but, finding that the supply was spent, 
they grew discontented ; and one of them, bolder 
than the rest, went up to the General, as he was 
standing with Captain Mackay, and demanded a re- 
newal of the supply. The General calmly told him 
that the conditions of their enlistment were fulfilled ; 
and, if they wished for favors, they took the wrong 



JAMES OGLETHORPE III 

way to obtain them, The man growing insolent, 
the Captain drew his sword, which the soldier 
wrenched from his hand and broke in two, throwing 
the hilt at him. He then ran to the barrack, where 
he seized his gun, crying out, " One and all! " upon 
which five others, who were in readiness, rushed out 
with their guns, and the ringleader shot at the Gen- 
eral. The ball did not take effect, though the pow- 
der scorched his face and burned his clothes. He 
was immediately surrounded by faithful soldiers, 
who seized the mutineers, and prevented further out- 
rage. They were tried by court-martial, and re- 
ceived sentence of death. Mr. Stephens remarks: 
" Among other things generally talked of in town, 
none deserved the like attention as what was told us 
concerning a late mutiny among the soldiers at Fort 
St. Andrew ; where they attempted openly the life of 
the General himself, as well as their immediate 
officer, Captain Mackay. But, by the great presence 
of mind in the General, and his daring intrepidity, 
it was happily suppressed, with the loss of one man 
shot in the scuffle, and divers taken into custody, to 
meet with their demerits, at a court-martial, here- 
after." * It does not appear that anyone was killed 
on the occasion; but letters at the time from the 
camp lamented that the General's humanity made 
him so slow to inflict the punishment of death, when 
the court-martial had awarded it, and the officers 
were not secure without that solemn warning. 

When the spirit of insubordination was quelled 
among the troops, and the safety of the frontier pro- 
* Stephens's " Journal," Vol. I. p. 326. 



112 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

vided for, the General took the opportunity to visit 
Savannah, where many things required immediate 
attention. He was received with salutes, bonfires, 
and all testimonies of public rejoicing; but there 
were some, who, knowing his impartial integrity, 
could have small share in the general satisfaction. 
He was informed that the grand jury had made a 
representation, complaining of Mr. Causton, as arbi- 
trary and partial in his conduct as a magistrate, and 
corrupt and wasteful in his charge of the public 
stores. On examining the subject, the General re- 
moved him from his office, appointing in his stead 
Colonel William Stephens, who had been sent over 
as secretary of the Colony by the trustees, the author 
of the Journal to which reference has been made, and 
required Causton to give security for his appearance 
to answer the charges, by assigning his estate at 
Oakstead, and his improvements elsewhere. It ap- 
peared that the trust funds sent for the support of 
the Colony had been shamefully wasted. 

After remaining about two weeks at Savannah, 
the General set out for the south ; but Mr. Causton, 
who was employed in making up his accounts, took 
occasion to intimate that the waste, of which so much 
had been said, was owing to the General's orders, 
and he himself was made the sacrifice for crimes of 
which another was guilty. It was necessary, in the 
excited state of the Colony, that such insinuations 
should be contradicted at once; and, therefore, the 
General returned without delay, reaching Savannah 
unexpectedly, as the bell was ringing for morning 
prayers, which he attended. It was well for Causton 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 113 

that he returned at such an hour ; for, in the evening, 
he sent for him, and, instead of that severity which 
might have been expected, from his impetuous na- 
ture, under such a provocation, he gently cautioned 
him to use no more such freedom with his name; but 
gave him full permission to produce all his corre- 
spondence with him, and recommended to him to 
lose no time in settling his account, since all delay 
was giving impressions to his disadvantage. 

The General's commission as Commander-in-chief 
gave him authority in Carolina as well as Georgia. 
He therefore proceeded to Charleston on the 10th of 
March, 1739, and on the 3d of April, his commission 
was read in the General Assembly. On the nth, he 
returned to Savannah, where he was concerned to 
see that disaffection prevailed to a great extent, on 
account of the necessary burdens and restrictions, 
and that those who were under the greatest obliga- 
tions to the trustees were loudest in their complaints 
against them. Meantime, the hardy Scots at Darien, 
and the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer, though subject to 
the same inconveniences, submitted patiently to evils 
which they knew could not be averted ; and, in gen- 
eral, it was obvious that the dissatisfaction was 
greatest among the idle and unworthy members of 
society, who had least claim to forbearance and re- 
gard. But Oglethorpe conducted himself with the 
greatest dignity and moderation ; with all his just 
reasons for displeasure, he treated them with im- 
partial kindness ; enforcing the laws and protecting 
the interests of the Colony, but never resorting to 
any severity where it was not imperatively required. 

A. B., VOL. iv. — 8 



114 AMERICAN BIOGRAPTTY 

In all his dealings with the Indians, he had pre- 
served their respect and confidence by his justice and 
kindness of bearing. Some of the warriors had 
waited on him with an assurance of their friendship, 
expressing a desire that he would visit their towns. 
To make sure of their fidelity, he took a journey to 
Coweta, one of the towns of the Muscoghe or Creek 
Indians, where all the chiefs were to hold a council 
on the nth of August, exposing himself to hard- 
ships which would have been intolerable to any but a 
man of hardy habits and steady resolution. The 
way led through a wilderness, where there was no 
road at all, and often no visible track. 

After smoking the calumet, they declared that they 
remained firm in their faith to the King of Great 
Britain, and that they would faithfully abide by all 
the engagements into which they had entered with 
General Oglethorpe, in the name of the trustees. 
They renewed the former grants, extending the 
southern boundary to the River St. John. The Gen- 
eral bound himself, on the part of the English, that 
they should not encroach upon any other lands, and 
that all the reserved privileges of the Creeks should 
be faithfully respected, while the trade between them 
should be conducted with fairness and honor. 

This treaty was concluded on the 21st of August, 
1739, after which the General with his attendants 
set out on their return. After enduring the same 
hardships as before, he reached Fort Augusta on the 
5th of September ; there he was met by a deputation 
of chiefs of the Chicasaws and Cherokees, the latter 
of whom complained that their people had been poi- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 115 

soned by the rum sold them by the traders. It ap- 
peared, on investigation, that some unlicensed trad- 
ers had introduced the small-pox among them, and 
that some of the warriors and others had taken it and 
died. He succeeded with some difficulty in explain- 
ing to them the nature of the disease, and assured 
them that from licensed traders no such dangers need 
be apprehended, as they were rigidly examined be- 
fore they were permitted to go into the Indian coun- 
try. With his explanations, supported by his well- 
known character, they were satisfied, and went away 
in peace. 

In the autumn of the same year, Tomo Chichi, the 
steady friend of the Georgians, died of a lingering- 
illness, though nearly a hundred years of age. He 
was a man of great intelligence and much generosity 
of feeling; he had always been liberal in his grants 
and presents, and had served the Colonists well by 
his good offices with other Indians. He saw that the 
interest and welfare of his people required them to 
keep on good terms with the English, and, with 
General Oglethorpe for their leader, whom he held 
in the most affectionate veneration, he knew that the 
confidence of the weaker party never could be be- 
trayed. He died at his own town, four miles from 
Savannah, and was sensible to the very last, exhort- 
ing his people to maintain their friendly relations 
with the Colonists, and only regretting his death at 
the time, because there was a prospect of his being 
useful against the Spaniards had he lived. He de- 
sired that his body might be buried in Savannah, as 
he had prevailed on the Creeks to grant the land for 



Il6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the town, and had assisted in laying its foundations. 
His remains were treated with the utmost respect, 
and followed to his grave, in the public square, by 
the General himself, with his officers and the magis- 
trates of the town. The General ordered a pyramid 
of stone to be erected over him ; but a late writer, 
himself a Georgian, asks the significant question, 
"Where is his tomb?" 



CHAPTER X 

War with Spain. — Spaniards land on Amelia Island. — Ogle- 
thorpe enters Florida. — St. Augustine invested. — Failure of 
the Attempt at Assault. — The Fleet fail to cooperate, and the 
Enterprise abandoned. 

The British minister, up to this time, had been 
successful in maintaining his policy, which was to 
secure the prosperity of his country by keeping it at 
peace with other nations ; but the clamors of interest 
and party prevailed at last against his better judg- 
ment, and the nation was hurried into a thoughtless 
and bloody war. On the 13th of September, news 
reached the General that the Governor of Rhode 
Island had issued commissions for fitting out priva- 
teers against the Spaniards ; and on the 226., by 
which time he had returned to Savannah, he received 
and published similar orders. He was not sorry to 
be directed to injure the Spanish settlements with all 
the means in his power ; since he had long been per- 
suaded in his own mind that the Spaniards were 
making preparation and waiting the opportunity to 
seize the province of Georgia, and thus to deprive 
his country of all the benefit of his labors. 

He saw, however, that he was placed in a difficult 
and dangerous position, and that it was only by the 

most diligent efforts he should be able to secure his 

117 



Il8 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

people. It was on Georgia that the first vengeance 
of Spain would be likely to come, and all his military 
force would hardly be able to resist them. He there- 
fore summoned the Indian warriors to his aid, four 
hundred Creeks and six hundred Cherokees, to pro- 
ceed to the southern frontiers. A company of ran- 
gers was formed, to prevent invasion by surprise on 
shore, and also to stop the fugitive slaves from Caro- 
lina, who might be passing over to the enemy. At 
the same time the militia were reviewed, equipped, 
and put in order to render the best service in their 
power. But, knowing how little this was, he applied 
to the Assembly of Carolina for assistance, and sug- 
gested to the naval officers on the station the advan- 
tage of blockading St. Augustine, before reinforce- 
ments and supplies from Havana could reach it. 

It was not long before hostilities began. In No- 
vember, a party of Spaniards landed on Amelia 
Island, where they secreted themselves till morning, 
when they fired upon two Highlanders, who went 
into the woods for fuel, and not only killed them, but 
mangled their bodies with swords or knives. The 
firing was heard by the officer in command of the 
scout-boat, who made signal to the fort, from which 
a party proceeded to the spot; but it was too late; 
the Spaniards had already escaped by sea. The 
General immediately pursued them; but, not being 
able to overtake them, he crossed the St. John into 
Florida, charged and defeated the Spanish cavalry, 
stationed as a guard on that river, and took accurate 
observation of all the military works of the enemy. 
Being unable to make himself master of them for 



JAMES OGLETHORPE I 1 9 

want of artillery, he returned to Frederica, procured 
the force and cannon which were wanted, took the 
two forts of Picolata and St. Francis, and made the 
garrisons prisoners of war. 

The prisoners were closely examined respecting 
the condition of St. Augustine; from them the Gen- 
eral learned that the galleys had been sent to Havana 
for provisions, which were much needed, and that 
the river and coast were left undefended. He imme- 
diately applied to Lieutenant-Governor Bull, of 
South Carolina, first by letter, and afterwards in 
person, proposing an expedition against that place, 
for which the time seemed so favorable. After some 
delay, an Act was passed by the Assembly for rais- 
ing a regiment of four hundred men under Colonel 
Vanderdussen, a troop of rangers, presents for the 
Indians, and three months' provisions, together with 
a large schooner bearing twenty-six guns, under the 
command of Captain Tyrrell. Having made these 
arrangements, and secured the cooperation of the 
British Commodore on the station, the General pub- 
lished his manifesto, in which he stated the object 
of the expedition, and engaged that whatever share 
of plunder might come to himself should be appro- 
priated to reward those who distinguished them- 
selves, and to support the widows and orphans of 
those who fell. 

After proceeding to the Uchee Town, to request 
that the chiefs and warriors might be summoned, he 
returned to Frederica ; where having completed the 
equipment of his forces and provided cannon, stores, 
and provisions, he took with him four hundred men 



120 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

and a party of Creeks, and with them passed over 
into Florida. 

His first object was to cut off the communication 
between St. Augustine and the surrounding country. 
For this purpose, he took the small fort, called Fran- 
cis de Pupa, at seventeen miles' distance. Thence 
he proceeded to Fort Diego, twenty-five miles dis- 
tant, which he took by a stratagem, which saved the 
loss of blood ; directing his men to show themselves 
in the woods in such a manner as to give the impres- 
sion of a great force. The garrison when summoned 
to surrender did so without delay, only stipulating 
that they should be treated as prisoners of war, and 
not delivered into the hands of the Indians, whose 
revenge for former injuries they had good reason to 
dread. They delivered up their cannon with the am- 
munition, but were allowed to keep their baggage; 
and the planter who had built the fort at his own 
expense was allowed to keep his plantation and 
slaves. A garrison of sixty men was left in the fort 
under the command of Lieutenant Dunbar. Mean- 
time, Colonel Vanderdussen, with the Carolina 
troops, and Captain Mcintosh, with a party of High- 
landers, had arrived; while six Spanish half -galleys, 
armed with long brass nine-pounders, manned by 
two hundred soldiers, and followed by two sloops 
laden with ammunition and provisions, had entered 
the harbor of St. Augustine, increasing the force and 
means of the enemy so much as to make it very diffi- 
cult to dislodge them. 

There was no hope of succeeding by a siege from 
the land side, because the force was insufficient, and 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 121 

pioneers were wanting. The only thing that seemed 
practicable was a combined assault by land and sea. 
The General concerted a plan with the naval officers, 
by which, when they arrived off the bar of the north- 
ern channel, he should march up to St. Augustine 
with his whole force of about two thousand, and that 
signals should be exchanged to show that each party 
was ready' to begin. On the night of June 4th, he 
marched, taking and destroying Fort Moosa, three 
miles from St. Augustine, which he encountered on 
his way. He made the signal of his own readiness ; 
but it was not answered from the fleet, it having been 
ascertained on board that, owing to the position of 
the Spanish galleys, their boats could not reach the 
shore. 

This was a severe disappointment ; but the General 
resolved to secure the benefit of the presence of the 
fleet, by turning the siege into a blockade, and cut- 
ting off all supplies from St. Augustine, both by land 
and sea. Colonel Vanderdussen was ordered to take 
possession of Point Quartell, near the mouth of the 
harbor opposite Anastasia, while Colonel Palmer 
was ordered to scour the woods, avoiding all conflict 
with the enemy, and taking all possible precautions 
against a surprise. 

There was a fortification on St. Anastasia, which 
commanded the entrance to the harbor. It was de- 
termined to take possession of this, which would give 
the smaller vessels admission to the harbor, though 
the water was not deep enough for the ships. The 
General took with him the Indians and two hundred 
soldiers, who were joined by an equal number from 



122 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

the fleet. The Spaniards were vigorously attacked, 
and soon defeated ; but the possession of the battery 
proved of little service, from the want of proper ma- 
terials for the works and the unfitness of their can- 
non, only a few of those which were promised having 
yet arrived. 

But this success on one side was more than bal- 
anced by severe loss on the other. Colonel Palmer, 
an officer of activity and courage, but imprudent and 
careless, did not regard his orders, which were to 
keep in constant motion, and never to rest two nights 
successively on the same spot. He took his station 
on the dismantled Fort Moosa, where he was at- 
tacked by a party of five hundred men, Spanish, 
Negroes, and Indians, early in the morning of the 
15th of June. He fell at the first fire of the enemy; 
his men succeeded in retreating through the sur- 
rounding force, with the loss of more than half their 
number. The Highlanders, who were most of them 
engaged, fought with great desperation. Their chief 
officer, John More Mcintosh, was taken prisoner, 
and basely treated in the dungeons of Spain, to 
which he was transmitted. One of the Indians was 
delivered to the Yamassees to be burned ; but General 
Oglethorpe sent a flag, with a message from a Chero- 
kee chief, with the assurance that if the captive suf- 
fered a Spanish prisoner should suffer the same fate. 
At the General's suggestion, the rule was then estab- 
lished that all Indians taken on either side should be 
treated as prisoners of war. 

Discouraging as the prospect was, Oglethorpe con- 
tinued to bombard the castle; but some sloops from 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 123 

Havana, with a reinforcement of men, and supplies 
of stores and provisions, found their way into the 
harbor through the narrow channel of the Matanzas, 
thus cutting off all hope of starving them into sub- 
mission, and making their strength far superior to 
his own. As a last resort, then, it was determined 
that Captain Warren, with the boats from the men- 
of-war and the Carolina militia, should attack the 
galleys, while the General should assault the trenches 
on the land side, for which purpose he collected all 
his force with ladders, fascines, and all the necessary 
preparations. Whether the attempt, if made, could 
have succeeded, is very doubtful. St. Augustine was 
defended by a castle of stone with four bastions, the 
curtain sixty yards in length, and mounted with 
fifty pieces of cannon, sixteen of which were brass 
twenty-four pounders. The town was intrenched 
with ten salient angles, on which were cannon. The 
number of regular troops was thirteen hundred and 
twenty-four, besides the militia and Spanish Indians. 
But he was not destined to try the experiment ; for, 
with discretion which always seemed to exceed his 
valor, the Commodore again thought it prudent to 
forbear, inasmuch as the hurricane season was ap- 
proaching, and it was his duty to keep out of the way 
of danger; a duty which was faithfully performed. 
It was obvious that the enterprise must be aban- 
doned, and the General reluctantly consented to re- 
tire. He was himself worn down by a fever, and his 
men were sinking with fatigue. The Carolina 
troops, dispirited by ill-success, took occasion to 
march away. By the 4th of July, everything was re- 



124 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

embarked, and the army returned to Georgia. One 
of the Indian chiefs, on being advised to retreat with 
the garrison, said, " No ! I will not stir a foot till I 
see every one of my men marched off before me. I 
have always been first to go towards an enemy and 
last to go from them." 

The enterprise was unsuccessful, but not without 
its good results. It placed the Spaniards on the de- 
fensive, and thus prevented those incursions into 
Georgia, for which, it was supposed, they had been 
preparing, and which, had they taken place, would 
probably have ruined the Colony, which was already 
shaken by the discontent and uneasiness of the 
settlers. 

The military reputation of the General did not 
suffer in consequence of the failure of this expedi- 
tion, the difficulties of the enterprise being fully ap- 
preciated, and his own courage and activity gen- 
erally known. It was acknowledged, that he endured 
more hardships than any of his soldiers; and, in 
every danger, he exposed himself to a double share. 
It was impossible for him, however, to make his new 
troops efficient, at so short a warning ; and the move- 
ments of the naval officers, to which so much of the 
disappointment was owing, were wholly beyond his 
control. If reflections had been thrown out against 
him, he would have been consoled by what was said 
of him in the House of Lords, by the Duke of 
Argyle, a great authority in matters of war : " One 
man there is, my Lords, whose natural generosity, 
contempt of danger, and regard for the public, 
prompted him to obviate the designs of the Span- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 125 

iards, and to attack them in their own territories ; a 
man, whom, by long acquaintance, I can affirm to 
have been equal to his undertaking, and to have 
learned the art of war by a regular education ; who 
miscarried in the design only from a want of the sup- 
plies which were necessary to a possibility of 
success." 

The unfortunate result of the expedition to St. 
Augustine, as usual in such cases, was followed by 
much recrimination between parties, who had not 
been too friendly before. It was not owing to any 
real defect of conduct on his part, but to the resent- 
ment occasioned by the terms in which he censured 
the Carolina troops, from whom he should not have 
expected the mechanical obedience and efficiency of 
regular soldiers. There was, indeed, something to 
censure, both in the supplies furnished by that prov- 
ince, and the behavior of those who were sent ; but, 
perhaps, a commander less impetuous and open- 
hearted would have remembered that Georgia and 
Carolina could only sustain themselves by firm union, 
through the common danger to which they were 
likely to be exposed. It was found, accordingly, that 
the latter province was afterwards somewhat cold 
and unsympathizing when danger threatened the for- 
mer; though much must be ascribed to a desolating 
fire, which broke out in Charleston, destroying three 
hundred of the principal houses, and consuming 
property to an amount which was estimated at two 
hundred thousand pounds ; which, for a province in 
that stage of its existence, was a withering blow. 



CHAPTER XI 

State of Things at Savannah. — Complaints of the Settlers. — 
Whitefield and his Orphan House. — Troubles with the Span- 
iards. — Application to South Carolina for Assistance. 

The year 1741 was passed in comparative repose, 
so far as military operations were concerned ; but, 
as the danger threatened from the south, the Gen- 
eral established himself at Frederica, which was 
then a flourishing place, with about a thousand in- 
habitants, in order to be near the frontier in case of 
invasion. He built a cottage on the borders of a 
broad meadow, near the town, where it was over- 
shadowed with oaks on one side and commanded a 
rich prospect on the other. Attached to it was a 
garden, with an orchard for oranges, figs, and vines. 
The town and its fortifications were in full view from 
the windows, so that he could enjoy a quiet retreat, 
and, at the same time, be in readiness for active ser- 
vice at the shortest warning. This cottage, with fifty 
acres of land connected with it, was all the real estate 
which he ever held in America. So many recollec- 
tions of interest are now connected with his name, 
that it is a subject of regret that the place should 
have passed into the hands of those who cut down 
the oaks and changed the beauty of the scene. 

At times, he visited Savannah; but there was 
much in that place to give him dissatisfaction. The 

126 



IAMES OGLETHORPE \2J 

vicinity of South Carolina, where the slaves were to 
the whites in the proportion of four or five to one, 
created perpetual uneasiness in those who wished to 
be relieved from the necessity of labor ;. and the taste 
for complaining, once excited, found many subjects 
for its exercise, since all that the trustees could do 
in the way of concession only gave the feeling that 
more might be gained, if they made more importu- 
nate demands. Dr. Tailfer was a sort of high priest 
of insubordination; and every one who was unpros- 
perous, from any cause whatever, was easily per- 
suaded that his depressed circumstances were owing, 
not to imprudence on his own part, nor to the ap- 
pointment of Providence, but to the vicious arrange- 
ments of the social system established by the trustees, 
in which, unfortunately, there was just enough of 
error to give a color of truth to all that they could 
say against its operations. 

Under these circumstances, many were constantly 
leaving the province, thinking, by removing from 
Georgia, to escape all their cares and sorrows. On 
one of his visits, the General was received by forty 
freeholders ; upon which he expressed his joyful sur- 
prise to find that there were so many who had not yet 
run away. One of the leading malcontents was the 
son of Colonel Stephens, who appears to have had 
some cause of personal resentment, arising from his 
connection with some affair in which his agency was 
misunderstood. But the great evil was that every 
cause of private dissatisfaction was ascribed to the 
government, or to the General, and went to swell the 
list of public wrongs. The hardships of the settlers 



128 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

were, doubtless, greater than their injuries; but the 
great privation was that utter exclusion from all con- 
cern in public affairs, which certainly was not con- 
sistent with the just expectations of Englishmen, and 
which gave them the feeling that they were anything 
but free. 

The state of morals in Savannah, at the time, was 
such as is always found in a community which does 
not prosper. Though ardent spirits were prohibited 
by law, they found their way into the province, and 
enabled many to drown at once their conscience and 
sense of wrong. Colonel Stephens's Journal men- 
tions, as common occurrences, many circumstances 
of domestic history, which could not be in the same 
city at the present day; a violation of domestic faith, 
and open defiance of shame, even in some men of 
standing, which gives the darkest impression of the 
state of public morals. The influence of the base 
women who set themselves in opposition to the Wes- 
leys, bears the same testimony. Such things could 
not be in that, nor any other place in this country, 
at the present day. 

It is curious to read Colonel Stephens's remarks 
on Whitefield, who was then preaching at Savannah. 
The secretary, who was a zealous friend of the 
church, had no great sympathy with one who cast 
aside the surplice and made extemporaneous prayers 
of more than an hour. The preacher threw open 
contempt upon what had been most respected, in- 
veighing against the writings of Archbishop Tillot- 
son, and saying that " the author of the ' Whole 
Duty of Man,' he verily believed, had sent thousands 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 129 

to hell." Regeneration was his subject from Sab- 
bath to Sabbath ; he told his hearers that, if they 
were regenerated, the heat of the sun upon their 
bodies would not be more evident to them, than the 
operations of the Spirit upon their souls. He did 
not confine his labors to the church; knowing that 
some of the men of influence were living in open 
defiance of morality and shame, he went into the 
court and made an address to the grand jury, urging 
them to present all such offenders, without partiality 
or fear ; since the miserable state of the Colony was 
doubtless owing to divine displeasure against their 
sins. In everything he was perfectly unrestrained 
and independent; he built his Orphan House on a 
large scale, without taking counsel with any one, and 
when it was completed, he gathered all orphans into 
it, whether otherwise provided for or not. There 
was great complaint that some were thus taken from 
families where they had been contented and useful. 
The General wrote that he had misunderstood the 
orders of the trustees ; but he signified at once that 
he cared not for the General nor any other man, 
but should do without hesitation what he thought 
his duty.* 

After the late incursion into Florida, the General 
kept possession of a southern region, which the Span- 
iards had claimed as their own; and, as they had 
taken encouragement from the successful defence of 
St. Augustine, and the well-known dissensions on 
the English side, it was to be expected that they 

* Stephens's "Journal," Vol. II. pp. 257, 270, 294, 308: 
Vol. III. pp. 77, 98. 

A. B., VOL. IV. — 9 



130 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

would embrace the earliest opportunity of taking 
their revenge. With this expectation he kept scout- 
boats always on the watch to give warning of the 
approach of any vessel to the shore. On the 16th of 
August, news was brought him that a large ship had 
come to anchor off the bar. The boat, which was 
sent out to ascertain its character, reported that it 
was manned with Spaniards, and appeared to have 
come with some hostile design. Hearing this, he 
went on board the guard sloop, taking with him the 
sloop Falcon, which was in the service of the prov- 
ince, and hiring the schooner Norfolk, Captain 
Davis, to accompany the expedition. On board 
these vessels he placed a detachment of his regiment, 
amounting to one hundred and thirty men, with their 
officers. They immediately set off in pursuit of the 
stranger; but before they came to the bar, they en- 
countered a sudden storm of rain and thunder; and 
when the atmosphere was clear again the ship had 
disappeared. 

As the preparation had been made, and the fugi- 
tive might possibly be overtaken, he sailed with his 
little fleet along the Florida shore. On the 19th, the 
Falcon, being disabled, was sent back with seventeen 
of the soldiers; the guard sloop and schooner pro- 
ceeded on their way. On the morning of the 21st, 
a ship and sloop were seen at anchor, at some 
leagues' distance. As there was no wind, the Eng- 
lish vessels made their way toward them with oars, 
when it was ascertained that one was the black Span- 
ish privateer sloop, under the command of a French- 
man, Captain Destrade, who had made several prizes 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 131 

at the northward; the other was a three-mast ship; 
both lying at anchor outside the bar of St. Augustine. 
The General gave orders to board them. They be- 
gan to fire with cannon and small arms. When the 
English returned the fire, they slipped their cables, 
and ran over the bar. The English pursued ; but, 
after engaging them for an hour and a quarter, they 
were unable to board them, and the enemy's vessels 
sought protection from the town. The galleys fired 
upon the English with nine-pounders, without doing 
them any injury, while the opposite party appeared 
to be disabled by the fight. 

Finding it impossible to reach them, the General 
came to anchor within sight of the castle, and the 
rest sailed for the Matanzas; but, finding no vessel 
there, he cruised off the coast, till he ascertained that 
no vessel was there, and then returned to his own 
quarters. 

The storm, which had been so long anticipated, 
burst upon the Colony in the year 1742. The Span- 
iards had always looked upon it with jealousy and 
suspicion; and, since the attempt on St. Augustine, 
and the Indian inroads connected with it, their dis- 
pleasure had been sharpened into a steady purpose of 
revenge. For this purpose they fitted out, at Ha- 
vana, a fleet, said to consist of fifty-six sail, and 
seven or eight thousand men. The force was proba- 
bly not quite so great ; if it was, it did not all reach 
its destination; not by any interruption from the 
English fleet, which, as usual at the time, was out of 
the way when it was most wanted, but from the effect 
of a storm, which dispersed the vessels, so that only 



132 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

a part of the whole number succeeded in reaching 
St. Augustine. The force was there placed under 
the command of Don Manuel de Monteano, the Gov- 
ernor of that place, who was to conduct the expedi- 
tion into Georgia. 

At the beginning of the summer, the schooner, 
which was kept constantly cruising on the coast, 
brought information to the General that there were 
two Spanish twenty-gun ships, two large privateers, 
and a great number of smaller vessels filled with 
soldiers, lying off the bar of St. Augustine. This 
news was soon confirmed by Captain Haymer, of 
the Flamborough man-of-war, who had fallen in 
with the armament off the coast of Florida, and had 
succeeded in driving some vessels on the shore. 

As it was evident that the danger was at hand, 
but not quite certain where the blow would fall, the 
General wrote to the Commander of his Majesty's 
ships, which were quietly reposing in Charleston har- 
bor, urging them to hasten to his aid. Lieutenant 
Maxwell arrived in Charleston, and delivered the 
letter on the 12th of June. He also sent Lieutenant 
Mackay to Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, re- 
questing his immediate assistance. This despatch 
arrived on the 20th of June. But neither party an- 
swered the application ; the fleet, because it was not 
their custom to go where their comfort, and perhaps 
their lives, might be endangered; and the govern- 
ment of the Colony, because they thought it better to 
fortify their own seaport, and keep their forces at 
home, than to leave their own province unguarded, 
for the sake of aiding their neighbors. Perhaps cer- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 1 33 

tain angry feelings had their share in producing this 
result, which was neither wise nor honorable; since, 
had Georgia fallen, nothing could have saved South 
Carolina from a similar fate. In Virginia, a better 
policy prevailed; the Assembly there resolved, at 
once and unanimously, to send a naval force to the 
assistance of General Oglethorpe. It was prepared 
as soon as possible, but not in time to reach the scene 
of action before the danger was past. 

The fleet made its appearance -on the coast of 
Georgia on the 21st of June. An attempt was made 
by nine vessels to take possession of the Island of 
Amelia ; but the guns of Fort William, and the guard 
schooner of fourteen guns, under the command of 
Captain Dunbar, received them with so warm a fire 
that their purpose was abandoned. The General 
thought it necessary, when he heard of this attack, 
to do something to sustain the fortifications on Cum- 
berland Island ; he went, for that purpose, with three 
boats filled with soldiers, but, in order to reach his 
destination, was obliged to make his way through 
fourteen of the enemy's ships. This careless ex- 
posure of his own person was one of his defects as 
a military chief. It answered good purpose in en- 
couraging his men, perhaps; but his courage was 
unquestioned, and, had he fallen in the fire which 
was poured upon him, there was no one who could 
have succeeded to an authority, which, even with his 
high character, it was difficult to maintain, so that 
his own death would have brought ruin to his Col- 
ony, and injury and dishonor to his country. Hap- 
pily, he passed safely through the vessels, under the 



134 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

cloud of smoke, and succeeded in the object of his 
voyage, reinforcing Fort William with the men and 
supplies which he withdrew from Fort Andrews, the 
other fort on Cumberland not thinking them equal to 
the defence of more than one. 

As there was no very flattering prospect of aid 
from abroad, the General proceeded to make the best 
of the resources within his reach. He took for the 
King's service a merchant ship called the Success, 
manned it with the crews of smaller vessels, and 
placed it under the command of Captain Thompson. 
The Highlanders were summoned from Darien, to- 
gether with the rangers and marines, and, on the 
28th of June, the Spanish fleet made its appearance 
off the bar; but the navigation required constant 
sounding, which delayed them several days; during 
which time the General was able to organize another 
company of rangers, and to raise the spirits of his 
troops by offers of reward, and by manifesting a 
confidence in his ability to resist the invaders, which 
probably he did not feel. It was one of those occa- 
sions on which his sanguine temper gave him an ad- 
vantage. It always rose with the exigency; and 
while in unexciting times it was somewhat hasty, in 
the presence of great difficulty and pressing danger 
it was always collected, dignified, and firm. 

He was obliged, at this time, to execute as well as 
give orders; for, in a letter to the Duke of New- 
castle, mentioning his application to Governor Glenn, 
he says, " Lieutenant-Colonel Cook, who was engi- 
neer, and was then at Charleston, hastened away to 
England; and his son-in-law, Ensign Eyre, sub- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE I 35 

engineer, was also in Charleston, and did not arrive 
here till the action was over; so that, for want of 
help, I was obliged to do the duty of an engineer." 
There was a mystery in this absence, at such a time, 
which threw a dark shade over the fame of that 
officer, and no subsequent inquiry tended to remove 
it. The General was obliged to promote Major 
Heron to command on the station, raising him to 
the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, his -own duties re- 
quiring him to visit various places, and to be absent 
a part of the time. 



CHAPTER XII 

Spanish Fleet approaches Frederica. — Spaniards fall into an 
Ambush. — Battle of the Bloody Marsh. — Defeat of the Gal- 
leys. — Spy in the Camp. — Breaking up of the Spaniards. 

It was on the 5th of July that the Spanish fleet, 
consisting of three ships of twenty guns, two flat- 
boats, three schooners, four sloops, with more than 
twenty half-galleys, with soldiers on board, entered 
the harbor with a favorable wind and a flood tide. 
After exchanging a cannonade with the fort for 
about four hours, they passed the fortifications, and 
made their way up the river. Their object was to 
land their men at Gascoigne's Bluff, a peninsula 
which could not be defended, and it was hoped that 
the many obstacles of marsh and forest which must 
be passed over, in order to reach Frederica from it, 
would prevent the enemy from using it to any great 
advantage. The distance was but four miles by 
water from the Bluff to the town ; but the course of 
the river was winding, and, in making the tack which 
would be necessary, the vessels would be exposed to 
the fire of the English batteries. A large body of 
troops, said to be five thousand, which is not proba- 
bly too large an estimate, were landed at this penin- 
sula, a little below Gascoigne's plantation. A red 

136 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 1 37 

flag was hoisted on the mizzen-top of the Admiral's 
ship, and a battery of twenty heavy guns was imme- 
diately erected on the shore. 

After the General had done all in his power to 
prevent the landing of the enemy, and it was found 
that the fort at Simons had become indefensible, he 
called a council of his officers, in which it was deter- 
mined that the fort should be abandoned, the guns 
spiked, the cohorns burst, and the troops drawn away 
at once for the defence of the town. They marched 
immediately to Frederica, and all the soldiers on 
board the vessels were recalled to the shore. Scout- 
ing parties were sent in all directions, to watch the 
movements of the Spaniards, and all hands were 
employed in strengthening the fortifications, which, 
it was supposed, would be assaulted without delay. 

The Spaniards made many attempts to penetrate 
the woods between the Bluff and the town, for the 
purpose of assaulting the fort; but the services of 
the Indians, who were most at home in that kind of 
warfare, were found sufficient to prevent them. 
There was but one road by which they could ad- 
vance; it had been cut a part of the way through a 
tangled and impenetrable forest, and then ran, for 
some distance, with the deep forest on one side and a 
miry marsh on the other. It was a narrow path, 
through which only two could move abreast, and it 
was impossible to take either cannon or baggage 
with them. As often as they attempted this passage, 
they were intercepted by an ambush, either of High- 
landers or Indians, till the men were discouraged, 
openly declaring that no earthly powers could force 



138 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

their way to Frederica, whatever those of darkness 
might be able to do. 

On the 7th of July, a scouting party fell in with 
and made prisoners of some Spaniards, who had 
been sent to explore the road in question. They gave 
the information that the Spanish army was in mo- 
tion, which news was sent by an Indian runner to 
the General, who sent Captain Dunbar, with a com- 
pany of grenadiers, to join the regular troops, while 
he himself followed with the Highlanders and In- 
dians. With this force, he encountered the enemy, 
who had already proceeded about half-way from 
their camp toward the town, and, assaulting them 
with great spirit, soon put them to the rout, with 
the loss of forty of their Indians and one hundred 
and forty of the best of their troops, who were ac- 
customed to fighting in the woods. Two of them 
he took prisoners with his own hands; Captain 
Sachio, who commanded the party, was also taken 
by Lieutenant Scroggs. Toonahowi, the nephew of 
Tomo Chichi, had command of a hundred Indians 
in the action ; he was shot through the right arm by 
Captain Mageleto; with his left hand, he drew his 
pistol, went deliberately up to the Captain, in the 
face of the enemy, shot him through the head, and 
returned with satisfaction and composure. The 
enemy were pursued for a mile, and, when the troops 
were come up, they were posted, together with the 
Highlanders, in a wood fronting the road, by which 
the main army, if they advanced, must necessarily 
come. Having arranged this ambush, he returned 
to Frederica, to bring up all his men that could be 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 1 39 

spared to the engagement, which was hourly 
expected. 

Meantime, Captain Antonio Barba, and two other 
officers, with two hundred infantry, one hundred 
grenadiers, with Indians and negroes, advanced with 
great confidence and halted within a short distance 
of the place where the General had stationed his 
party. They stacked their arms, made fires, and 
were preparing their food, when a horse detected the 
presence of the concealed party, and betrayed his 
alarm to his master. The Spaniards seized their 
arms, and made immediate preparations for the 
fight ; but, before they could make themselves ready, 
they were shot down in great numbers by their un- 
seen foes, and after their officers had done all they 
could to form them, with great exposure of their 
own persons, but without success, they were obliged 
to fly, leaving their arms and baggage, and in such 
haste and confusion that many of them were actually 
shot down with the loaded muskets they had left 
behind. 

As Oglethorpe was returning from Frederica, he 
heard the distant firing; and while yet two miles 
from the scene of action, he met his two companies, 
with the great body of his Indians, who told him 
that they had been assailed in the wood by the whole 
Spanish army, and were retreating, defeated and 
broken, as a heavy shower of rain and the clouds of 
smoke had prevented their seeing their enemies. He 
rallied them at once, with sharp reproaches for their 
weakness, and ordered them to follow him to some 
strong point, where the Spaniards must be resisted, 



I40 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

or all would be lost. Depending on his familiarity 
with the ground, he trusted to retrieve the fortune 
of the day, and hurried forward till he reached the 
scene of action, where he was happily surprised to 
see what the result of the engagement had been. 
The side of the marsh was covered by two hundred 
grenadiers, who lay dead or dying on the field, while 
not a living enemy was anywhere in view. All was 
still, except an occasional Highland shout or Indian 
yell, which gave notice that another Spaniard had 
been discovered. 

It appeared that, in a first attack of the Spanish 
force, a panic had seized the men, from the appre- 
hension that the enemy, so greatly superior in force, 
would take possession of the defile and cut off their 
retreat. Under the influence of this alarm, they gave 
way, and the Highlanders reluctantly followed. 
But, while a portion, the same who were rallied by 
the General, continued their retreat, Lieutenants 
Sutherland and Mackay, who commanded the High- 
land rear-guard, agreed to do what they were able, 
to save their party from ruin and dishonor, and 
therefore returned through the underbrush of the 
forest, and took their station as before. They had 
hardly reached the ground and concealed themselves, 
when the Spaniards advanced with the grenadiers, 
their most efficient corps, in the van. Seeing the 
footprints of the retreating troops, and seeing that 
their right was protected by the marsh, and their 
left, as they supposed, with an impenetrable wall of 
brushwood, with a border of dry, white sand, they 
sat down to take that refreshment which their long 



JAMES OGLETHORrE 14I 

service rendered necessary, under the impression that 
the danger was over and the victory secured to their 
side. At that moment, a horse was alarmed by the 
Highland cap, which was lifted as a signal, and a 
deadly fire was poured in from the wood. Those 
who attempted to escape by the road were met and 
hewn down by the Highlanders with broadswords. 
Others plunged into the woods, where their bones 
were found a long time after. When it was found 
that, instead of having a fatal defeat to lament, the 
English had been victorious, the forest rang with 
their shouts and congratulations ; and the battle of 
the "Bloody Marsh," as it was called, while it gave 
them all the encouragement which they so much re- 
quired, supplied an exciting subject for the legends 
of after-times. 

Oglethorpe made use of this victory to encourage 
the hearts of the settlers, which had begun to fail; 
but he was better acquainted than they were with 
the true state of affairs, and he inclined, with all his 
fortitude, to doubt whether the defence could be 
carried through. From Carolina, to which he had a 
right to look for sympathy, he received no aid what- 
ever; he was left with his slender means to fight her 
battles as well as his own. 

On the nth, an attempt was made by the galleys 
to reach the town by water, since the approach by 
land had been attempted in vain. The galleys came 
within gun-shot ; but bombs were thrown upon them 
from the fort, and so heavy a fire poured in from the 
fortifications, that they were compelled to retreat. 
The General himself led the pursuit, with boats 



142 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

manned with soldiers of the regiment; he followed 
them till he had brought himself under the guns of 
the fleet. 

On the 1 2th, some encouragement was afforded 
by the statements of two English prisoners, who 
made their escape from the Spaniards, one from the 
camp, the other from the fleet. They reported that 
the enemy were dismayed by the resistance which 
they encountered in the outset, having no idea that 
any military force in Georgia would stand a moment 
against them. Their subsequent experience had not 
tended to remove the first impression. The numbers 
who had fallen in the Bloody Marsh; the wretched 
state of the wounded, who were in want of ordinary 
comfort and relief; the want of water, which was 
so great that they were put on half allowance, which, 
in the summer of such a climate, was a privation 
hardly to be borne ; the sickness, which began to pre- 
vail amongst them, and the depression which all 
these circumstances tended to produce, had led first 
to councils of war, and afterwards to separation, 
which became at last so hostile that the troops from 
Cuba, and those from St. Augustine, encamped at a 
distance from each other. 

It struck the General, at once, that this separation 
afforded a favorable opportunity to attack them, and 
to destroy one party by surprise before it could re- 
ceive aid from the other. With this view, he took 
three hundred regular troops, with Highlanders, In- 
dians, and rangers, and. being thoroughly familiar 
with the woods, he led them, by night, within a mile 
and a half of the Spanish camp, without attracting 



JAMES OGLETHORPE I43 

attention. Leaving his force there, he took with 
him a small body of picked men, and went forward 
to observe their position. 

While he was deeply engaged in taking down all 
the particulars of their situation, which it was de- 
sirable to know, on a sudden a Frenchman, who had 
come with his party, without orders and unobserved, 
fired his gun, and deserted. The Indians pursued 
him with all possible haste ; but, favored by the dark- 
ness of the night, he succeeded in escaping to the 
Spanish camp. As he would, of course, give the 
alarm, if it had not been already given by the report 
of his musket, there was nothing more to be done 
but to divide the drums into different stations, so as 
to give the impression that a large force was present, 
and then to march back in silence to the town. 

Determined that the deserter should gain nothing 
by his treachery, and thinking that the disappoint- 
ment might be turned to good account, the General 
projected an ingenious plan for accomplishing both 
objects — deceiving the Spaniards and punishing the 
guilty. A letter was written to the deserter in the 
French language, as if from one of his friends in the 
English camp, telling him, that he had received the 
money promised, and that he must endeavor to give 
the impression to the Spaniards that the English 
were weak; that he should undertake to pilot their 
boats and galleys up the river, and contrive to place 
them directly under the fire of the masked batteries ; 
that, if he succeeded in it, he would render eminent 
service, and that he and the other French deserters 
would receive rich rewards. This letter Oglethorpe 



144 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

gave to a prisoner, whom he hired by a gratuity to 
pass over to the enemy, and deliver it to the 
Frenchman who had deserted. The prisoner found 
his way to the Spanish camp, where he was imme- 
diately seized and carried before Monteano. He was 
asked how he escaped, and whether he had any let- 
ters. He declared that he had none; but when he 
was searched, the letter was found, and he confessed 
that he had received money to deliver it to the 
Frenchman. The result was, as the General had 
foreseen, that the Frenchman was immediately ar- 
rested as a spy; a council of war condemned him to 
death for his treason ; it was only by the interposi- 
tion of Monteano, who had employed him, and 
therefore felt some interest in him, that he was 
saved from execution. 

So far as the deserter was concerned, the plan 
succeeded to Oglethorpe's desire ; the man was suffi- 
ciently punished by his fright and the suspicious 
position in which the letter placed him. In deceiving 
the enemy, he was yet more successful. From their 
former experience, the Spaniards were prepared to 
believe that the English were far stronger than they 
at first supposed. The letter conveyed the intelli- 
gence that Admiral Vernon was on his way with the 
English fleet to St. Augustine; that two thousand 
Carolina troops would immediately join Oglethorpe's 
forces, and if he, the deserter, could do anything to 
detain the Spaniards for a few days in their present 
station, he would be entitled to the highest rewards 
that the English King could bestow. Some of the 
Spanish officers suspected that the letter was a 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 145 

stratagem; others were persuaded that it was gen- 
uine, and that it was time for the troops from St. 
Augustine certainly to hasten home. 

But, just at that time, the Carolina vessels, which 
had been sent to cruise along the coast, appeared in 
the distance ; and, as it seemed to confirm the state- 
ments of the letter, there was no longer a doubt in 
any mind; a panic spread through all their forces; 
the troops were embarked so precipitately that the 
dead were left unburied, and the cannon and other 
stores were abandoned to the foe. On the 14th, they 
set fire to all the works on St. Simons and Jekyl 
Islands, which they had labored hard to raise; and 
on the 15th, the large vessels, with the Havana forces 
on board, stood out to sea, while the Governor of St. 
Augustine, with the Florida troops, took passage in 
the galleys and small vessels, and encamped at Fort 
St. Andrews, on the north end of Cumberland Island. 
The failure of the expedition, from which so much 
was expected, was now complete ; and it was evident- 
ly owing to the firmness, activity, and skill of the 
General, who, left to his own resources by those who 
were bound to aid him, had shown himself equal 
to the exigency, and thus further established the 
honor of his name. 

A. B., VOL. iv. — 10 



CHAPTER XIII 

Defence of Fort William. — Oglethorpe sails to St. Augustine. 
— Vain Attempt to draw out the Garrison. — Charges brought 
against him in England. — Honorable Acquittal. — His Mar- 
riage. — Inroad of Charles Edward. — Oglethorpe appointed 
Major-General. — Successes of the Insurgents. 

On the 16th of July (1742) Oglethorpe pursued 
the retreating Spaniards; and, thinking it not un- 
likely that they would endeavor to strike a last blow 
before they left the scene of their dishonor, he sent 
an express to Ensign Alexander Stewart, who com- 
manded at Fort William, directing him to defend 
the place to the last extremity, and promising to 
come to his aid as soon as possible. As he had fore- 
seen, the Spanish fleet appeared off Fort William, 
and fourteen vessels came into the harbor, requiring 
the garrison to surrender. This was peremptorily 
refused. The Spaniards then cannonaded the works 
from their vessels, and made an attempt to land ; but 
a party of rangers, who had hastily marched to the 
aid of the garrison, encountered and repulsed them. 
Stewart had but sixty men ; but he sustained himself 
bravely till the arrival of Oglethorpe, when the 
enemy, thinking it hopeless to pursue the attempt 
further, desisted and put out to sea. 

There was something surprising in the whole his- 
146 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 147 

tory of this expedition. After it had been prepared 
with great command of resources, thoroughly fur- 
nished with the necessary means, and intrusted to 
approved commanders, whose thirst for glory was 
sharpened by desire of revenge, it ended in loss and 
shame to the Spaniards, while the English chief, 
with far inferior numbers, and those disaffected in 
part, suffering for want of provisions, and oppressed 
with the feeling that he was deserted by those whose 
duty it was to sustain him, had maintained himself 
with firmness even greater than his courage, and, in 
gaining renown for himself, had delivered his peo- 
ple from all fear of future invasion on that side. 
Well might Whitefield say, in one of his letters: 
" The deliverance of Georgia from the Spaniards is 
such as cannot be paralleled but by some instances 
out of the Old Testament." 

Oglethorpe immediately issued an order for a pub- 
lic thanksgiving to the praise of God, who had thus 
delivered the people by his mercy and power. Dis- 
couraged as the Spaniards were by the complete fail- 
ure of their enterprise, they were not disposed to 
submit patiently to their disappointment and shame. 
Early in 1743, General Oglethorpe heard that they 
were making preparations for another attempt, in 
which they hoped to avoid the errors which had led 
to the defeat of the former. Having found that his 
government was not to be depended on, and that 
what was done must be done by his own resources, 
he thought it better to go forth to meet the blow. 
Taking with him a detachment of his regiment, a 
company of grenadiers, together with Highlanders, 



148 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

rangers, and Indians, he set sail in the direction of 
St. Augustine. 

On his way to reconnoitre St. Augustine, he met 
with an accident, which had nearly put an end to his 
life. In firing one of his cannon, it burst, and a piece 
of a sail-yard struck the General in the face; the 
blood gushed from his ears and nose in such a man- 
ner as greatly to alarm his attendants; but after 
being stunned awhile, he collected himself, and en- 
couraged his soldiers with his usual composure. 

He landed, on the 6th of March, on the Florida 
side of St. John's River. He found there a party of 
Spaniards, much more numerous than his own. 
These he attacked with such vigor that forty were 
killed, and the remainder made their escape into the 
castle. He then marched to St. Augustine with a 
part of his men, having placed the others in ambus- 
cade, trusting that the Spaniards would take courage 
from the smallness of his force, and leave their walls 
to pursue him. But, by some means or other, they 
discovered his troops, who were concealed; and, 
finding that he could by no means provoke them to a 
battle, he drew off toward the river. After waiting 
there for the enemy to come to drive him from their 
territory, it became evident that they would not put 
themselves within his reach; he therefore returned 
to Georgia to strengthen his defences, and to make 
arrangements for going to England, where his pres- 
ence was required. 

After giving thorough attention to all the military 
works and civil affairs of the Colony, he took pas- 
sage, on the 23d of July, in the guard-ship, com- 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 140 

manded by Captain Thompson. Colonel Heron, Mr. 
Eyre, sub-engineer, and others of the regiment, ac- 
companied him. On the 25th of September, he 
reached London, to which he was summoned, to an- 
swer an impeachment lodged against him in the war- 
office by Lieutenant-Colonel Cook. General Ogle- 
thorpe insisted on an immediate examination by a 
board of general officers ; but Colonel Cook gave in 
a list of witnesses, some of whom were in Georgia, 
others in Carolina, and, as he maintained that they 
were essential to establish his charges, it was neces- 
sary to wait till their testimony could be heard. In 
consequence of this delay, which was very trying to 
the General, the court-martial could not enter upon 
its duties till June 4th, 1744. It required but little 
time to show that the whole proceeding was ma- 
licious and unfounded. After a strict examination 
into every specification, the court decided that " the 
whole and every article thereof was groundless, false, 
and malicious." 

It is melancholy to see that the history of General 
Oglethorpe's connection with Georgia should close 
thus with an act of self-justification, which, however 
successful, must have brought with it many wounds 
to his feelings. He was a most ardent and generous 
man ; and after the entire disinterestedness and self- 
devotion with which he had given up his wealth and 
comfort for the sake of the Colony, he could not hear 
the incessant accusation and complaint of those 
whom he had served, without feeling as if he had 
labored in vain. His whole object had been to estab- 
lish a prosperous, contented, and happy social state, 



ISO AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

and he could not say that he had succeeded to his 
desire. But this has been the history of all such en- 
terprises; the first-fruits are seldom such as can be 
reaped with exultation and delight; after the first 
difficulties are over, and the troubled few are melted 
down in the general prosperity and intelligence of 
the whole, the view is one which can give greater 
satisfaction; but too often it happens that by this 
time the eyes which would have kindled most joyous- 
ly at the sight of this growing power and happiness 
are forever closed in death. 

Such was not the case with Oglethorpe. He was 
permitted to see his Colonists growing up into an 
enlightened, energetic and prosperous community. 
What further interest he manifested in them and 
their fortunes we are not able to tell ; but it is certain 
that he felt a lively attachment to America and was 
one of her warmest friends ; and it could not be that, 
with this concern for the prosperity of the whole 
people, he should have been indifferent to that part 
for whose sake he had labored and suffered, spend- 
ing and ready to be spent for them, with that self- 
sacrifice which always feels the liveliest interest in 
the objects of its generosity, however cold and 
thankless they may be. 

Having devoted so large a portion of his life to 
the service of others, it was but natural that General 
Oglethorpe should wish for leisure to attend to his 
private affairs; nor was he to be censured if he de- 
sired those social blessings which were within his 
reach, and which he was eminently fitted to enjoy. 
The life of the proprietor of a large estate, interested 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 151 

in the welfare of his tenants, and conscious of his 
responsibility, can never be an inactive one ; nor did 
he feel as if, in leaving the broader field of philan- 
thropy, he was retiring to a selfish and stagnant re- 
pose. In 1744, he married Elizabeth, the only 
daughter of Sir Nathan Wright, of Cranham Hall, 
Essex. His chief residence was at his country-seat, 
at Godalming ; there he spent the greater part of the 
year in agricultural pursuits, and, what he valued 
more, in improving the condition and promoting the 
happiness of all about him. 

His winters were passed in London, at the ancient 
family mansion, in St. James's, Westminster, where 
he attended to his duties as a member of Parliament, 
and seized the opportunity, which he had denied him- 
self before, of cherishin'g the acquaintance and en- 
joying the conversation of the distinguished men 
who were there gathered into a brilliant circle, and 
whom the lifelike sketches of Boswell have made 
familiar to many readers as the most cherished recol- 
lections of their former days. 

But the country was in an agitated state. In 1745, 
Charles Edward Stuart made his romantic attempt 
to recover the throne of his fathers, arriving in Eng- 
land without any force to sustain him, and depend- 
ing entirely on that traditional feeling of loyalty 
which, weak as it seems to those who live in a repub- 
lic, has often proved itself one of the deepest and 
most disinterested which ever possess the heart. To 
meet this invasion, Marshal Wade was appointed 
Commander-in-chief, and Oglethorpe received the 
commission of Major-General, having under him 



152 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

several companies of cavalry, one of which bore the 
name of the Georgia Rangers. These companies 
were raised at the expense of several loyal individ- 
uals, and were placed under the command of Ogle- 
thorpe, as the person most likely to employ them to 
advantage. 

But, before the English government could rally 
itself to do anything efficient, the Highlanders were 
sweeping down like a torrent from their native 
mountains. Their spirit rose higher by reason of 
the hopelessness of their cause. A series of unex- 
pected and remarkable successes gave them a confi- 
dence which they did not feel at first ; for, wherever 
they met the enemy, it was found that neither dis- 
cipline nor numbers could resist their thundering 
charge. Sir John Cope, who commanded in Scot- 
land, proved himself entirely unequal to the occasion. 
After a mistaken movement, which opened the way 
for the insurgents to descend unopposed into the 
Lowlands, he attempted to bring them to an action 
at Preston Pans, and to recover the ground that he 
had lost. But his well-appointed army of three thou- 
sand men was broken up at once, by a single charge 
of the Highlanders, with the loss of five hundred 
men. Never was a blow struck which tended so 
much to animate the successful party, and to dis- 
courage and cast down the other. Had it not been 
that the clear judgment of the nation was decidedly 
opposed to change, so much so that sympathy was 
yielded up to conviction, the inefficiency of the regu- 
lar army, and the wild valor of the Highlanders, 
would have cleared the way at once for Charles Ed- 
ward to the throne of his fathers. 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 153 

Neither circumstances nor character enabled Mar- 
shal Wade to do anything to resist the invaders. 
They advanced to Derby, within one hundred miles 
of London, and the whole nation was filled with dis- 
may. Armies were collected in all directions. The 
Duke of Cumberland, who had been trumpeted into 
some sort of military reputation, by reason of that 
amazement with which men see anything like talent 
in a prince of the blood, was recalled from Germany, 
and placed in command of the three armies which 
enclosed the little band of Highlanders. The cold- 
ness of his adherents in England, and the growing 
disunion of the chiefs, made it necessary for Charles 
Edward to retreat. Upon this the English army re- 
covered heart; and, though they could not prevent 
his advance, they hoped to do something to intercept 
and embarrass his return. 

Marshal Wade detached General Oglethorpe, on 
the nth of December, with the cavalry under his 
command, to effect this object, while he himself kept 
his quiet retreat at Newcastle, out of the reach of 
honor or of danger. On the 13th, a great body of 
horse and dragoons, under Oglethorpe, arrived in 
Preston, after a march of one hundred miles in three 
days, in one of the severest seasons ever known. 
The Duke of Cumberland had never shown any great 
power, when opposed to a hostile army, but was most 
vigorous and triumphant when the foe was already 
subdued. He ordered Oglethorpe to continue the 
pursuit, which was done. But when he overtook the 
Highlanders, at Shap, his army was exhausted by its 
incessant labor, and it was determined, in consulta- 



154 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

tion with his officers, that, instead of an immediate 
attack, the soldiers should enter the village to obtain 
the rest and refreshment which their exhausted state 
required, and to make the assault in the morning. 

The Duke's army was in motion, not far in the 
rear of his own. When it reached Shap, in the 
morning, it passed on, leaving Oglethorpe's force be- 
hind. From being the vanguard of the English 
army, it thus became the rear. Without inquiring 
into the circumstances which had produced this re- 
sult, the Commander-in-chief, intoxicated with 
triumph at the novel sight of an enemy retreating 
before him, and desirous to exalt his own activity at 
the expense of others, ordered Oglethorpe to be 
brought before a court-martial for having lingered 
on the road. The trial took place in September, 
1746, and the result, as might have been expected, 
was that the necessity for the halt became evident; 
it was clear, that an attack, under the circumstances, 
would have implied both inhumanity and rashness, 
and 'the General was honorably acquitted of the 
charge. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Crokers Edition of Boswell. — His Opinion of Oglethorpe. — 
Johnson offers to write his Life. — His Conversation. — His 
political Opinions. — Appointed General of all the Forces. 

Mr. Croker, in his edition of Boswell, in one of 
those notes which throw much more light upon his 
own character than upon his subject, makes some 
empty and bitter remarks in relation to this matter, 
in which he infers from Boswell's expressions that 
Oglethorpe had in vain solicited some mark of dis- 
tinction to heal his wounded feelings. Boswell's 
words imply no such thing; they simply show his 
own opinion that General Oglethorpe had not been 
treated with the consideration which he deserved, 
and that many inferior men were in honor preferred 
before him. It may have been true that his friends 
felt this neglect; but that General Oglethorpe com- 
plained, there is not the least proof, and it is dis- 
graceful thus, from mere conjecture, to fasten a re- 
proach upon his name. 

In the whole construction of his work Croker was 
thus haunted by imaginations. When Hogarth de- 
scribes his first interview with Johnson, and the fierce 
eloquence with which he denounced George the Sec- 
ond, as having, with his own hand, struck from the 
list of the army an officer of high rank, who had been 
acquitted by a court-martial, Croker thinks that 

'55 



I56 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

Oglethorpe was the person alluded to, though George 
the Second, instead of striking him from the list, 
confirmed the sentence by which he was honorably 
acquitted. There is no such criticism and conjecture. 
General Oglethorpe was not employed, indeed, be- 
cause he had no purpose of leaving his country 
again; but he was promoted in the very year after 
his court-martial, and as much employed and hon- 
ored as an independent politician can ever expect 
to be. 

The notices of General Oglethorpe, scattered 
through Boswell's work, are of great interest and 
value, because they are incidental ; and as he had no 
particular view to the General's character, either to 
raise or depress it, it is clear that his statements, and 
even his impressions, may be trusted. Certainly they 
were those of Johnson, whose strong common sense 
was the most remarkable of his great powers, and 
who looked with sharp and searching investigation 
through the virtues and weaknesses of those among 
whom he was thrown. To General Oglethorpe he 
felt grateful for his applause at a time when praise 
was important to him ; but there is no reason to b«- 
lieve that his gratitude for this kind of service af- 
fected his judgment, though it inspired in him a re- 
spectful and friendly regard. 

On Monday, April 10th, 1775, Boswell says, " I 
dined with him, Johnson, at General Oglethorpe's, 
with Mr. Langton and the Irish Dr. Campbell, whom 
the General had obligingly given me leave to bring 
with me. This learned gentleman was thus gratified 
with a very high intellectual feast, by not only being 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 157 

in company with Dr. Johnson, but with General 
Oglethorpe, who had so long been a celebrated name, 
both at home and abroad. Johnson urged General 
Oglethorpe to give the world his life. He said, ' I 
know no man whose life would be more interesting. 
If I were furnished with materials, I should be very 
glad to write it.' ' In a note Boswell adds, " The 
General seemed unwilling to enter upon it at this 
time; but upon a subsequent occasion he communi- 
cated to me a number of particulars which I have 
committed to writing ; but I was not sufficiently dili- 
gent in obtaining more from him, not apprehending 
that his friends were so soon to lose him ; for, not- 
withstanding his great age, he was always healthy 
and vigorous, and was at last carried off by a violent 
fever, which often proves fatal at any period of life." 

The only passage of this work, which gives such 
a living impression of all whom it describes, in which 
any light is thrown upon the conversation of General 
Oglethorpe, is this : " The uncommon vivacity of 
General Oglethorpe's mind, and his variety of knowl- 
edge, having sometimes made his conversation seem 
too desultory, Johnson observed, ' Oglethorpe, Sir, 
never completes what he has to say.' " 

In a conversation at Dr. Johnson's house, General 
Oglethorpe said, " The House of Commons has 
usurped the power of the nation's money, and used 
it tyrannically. Government is now carried on by 
corrupt influence, instead of the inherent right of the 
King." Upon this, Croker remarks : " When he 
says that government was carried on by corrupt in- 
fluence, instead of the inherent right of the King, he 



158 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

must mean, if he means anything, that the King 
ought to rule in his own exclusive right, and by his 
own despotic will, and without the aid or the control 
of Parliament, whose assent to the measures of the 
Crown must be obtained by influence of some kind, 
or anarchy must ensue." He thinks, therefore, that 
the General talked nonsense ; but most readers would 
consider it quite as well that the sovereign should 
possess power in his own right, as that he should 
hold it by a pawnbroking system of hire and corrup- 
tion. 

On one occasion, Boswell relates : " General 
Oglethorpe declaimed against luxury. Johnson said, 
' Depend upon it, Sir, every state of society is as 
luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best 
that they can get.' Oglethorpe answered, ' But the 
best depends much upon ourselves; and if we can 
be as well satisfied with plain things, we are in the 
wrong to accustom our palates to what is high-sea- 
soned and expensive. What says Addison, in his 
" Cato," speaking of the Numidian? 

" Coarse are his meals, the fortune of the chase; 
Amid the running stream he slakes his thirst ; 
Toils all the day, and, at the approach of night, 
On the first friendly bank he throws him down, 
Or rests his head upon a rock till morn ; 
And if, the following day, he chance to find 
A new repast, or yet untasted spring, 
Blesses his stars, and thinks it luxury." ' " 

This is interesting, because it proceeds from one 
who had made voluntary experiment of those simple 
habits of life which he thus approves. Johnson says 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 1 59 

truly of the great majority of mankind, that they 
always take the best they can get, and there are few, 
who, with luxuries within their reach, would have 
self-command enough not to enjoy them. But such 
was Oglethorpe; for the sake of accomplishing a 
generous purpose, he submitted readily to hardship 
and privation, without the feeling that he was mak- 
ing a sacrifice; and he found his reward in a long 
life of health and happiness, exempt from infirmity 
and pain to the last. 

Dr. Warton, speaking of General Oglethorpe, said, 
" I had the pleasure of knowing him well ; " and, in 
reference to Pope's well-known couplet, he remarked, 
" Here are lines, which will justly confer immortality 
on a man, who well-deserved so magnificent a eulo- 
gium. He was at once a great hero and a great 
legislator. The vigor of his mind and body has 
seldom been equalled. The vivacity of his genius 
continued to great old age. The variety of his ad- 
ventures, and the very different scenes in which he 
had been engaged, made me regret that his life has 
never been written. Dr. Johnson once offered to do 
it, if the General would furnish the materials. John- 
son had a great regard for him, for he was one of the 
first persons who, in all companies, praised his ' Lon- 
don/ His first campaign was made under Prince 
Eugene against the Turks, and that great general 
always spoke of Oglethorpe in the highest terms. 
But his settlement of the Colony of Georgia gave a 
greater lustre to his character than even his military 
exploits." 

It has been already mentioned that he was pro- 



l6o AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

moted in the army, in 1747. On the establishment 
of the British Herring Fishery in 1750, he took a 
part, and became one of the Council. In pursuance 
of the duties of that office, he delivered to the Prince 
of Wales, on the 25th of October, the act of incorpo- 
ration, with an address which was printed in the 
public journals. In February, 1765, he received the 
rank of General of all his Majesty's Forces, and, for 
many years before his death, was the oldest general 
on the staff. It does not appear from this, that he 
was, as Croker says, laid on the shelf ; a phrase which 
better describes the fate of an editor's volumes, than 
of Oglethorpe's military life. That he was honored 
as some others of equal merit would have been, can- 
not be maintained ; for he would not sacrifice his in- 
dependence, and, according to Croker's theory of 
influence, such rewards as governments can give will 
be appropriated, in general, to slaves of party. 

One circumstance is mentioned, with respect to 
this independence of spirit, which, if true, would 
form a graceful close to his active public life. Mc- 
Call tells the story in his " History of Georgia," and 
his account is confirmed by the patient and accurate 
Ramsay, though the authority on which they made 
the assertion cannot now be discovered. It is, that 
when the Revolutionary war began, the offer of the 
command in America was tendered to General Ogle- 
thorpe, who was higher in rank, as well as in reputa- 
tion, than Sir William Howe. He declared in an- 
swer that he knew the Americans well ; they could 
never be subdued by arms ; but their obedience might 
be secured at any time by doing them justice; and 



JAMES OGLETHORPE l6l 

if he might be authorized to assure the Colonies that 
they should be justly dealt with, he was ready to 
accept the command, which otherwise he should de- 
cline. Such a man was not suited to the purposes of 
government at the time; he therefore remained at 
home, and Sir William Howe came to prove the 
truth of Oglethorpe's prediction, that the Americans 
could not be conquered by arms. The story, at least, 
deserves to be true; it is in full harmony with his 
character and his well-known opinions. Well would 
it have been for the other generals of the British 
army, who lost their honor in America, if they had 
refused to be instruments of oppression; there was 
not one who gained any reputation in the war, with 
the exception of Cornwallis ; and whatever credit as a 
tactician he acquired in the long southern campaign, 
was overshadowed by one act of blood in South 
Carolina, which leaves a stain upon his memory such 
as no time can wear away. 

A. B., VOL. IV. — II 



CHAPTER XV 

Horace Walpole, Hannah More, and Burke. — Oglethorpe's 
Visit to John Adams. — Success of Wesley. — Oglethorpe's 
public Character and private Virtues. — His successful Re- 
sistance of Age. — His Death. 

The reader of Horace Walpole, who might chance 
to have faith in his entertaining gossip, would not 
have a very exalted idea of General Oglethorpe, to 
whom he pays such compliments as he usually be- 
stowed on all who were not of his social circle or his 
party. To one who makes large allowance for his 
prejudice and temper, his lively narrative throws 
light upon the history and men of his day; but if he 
were so fortunate as to find a full believer, which, 
probably, he never did, it would lead to grotesque 
misapprehensions of the truth ; for what measure of 
true information could be gathered from him to 
whom Washington was a charlatan? In the same 
spirit, and with the same discrimination, he repre- 
sented Oglethorpe as a bully. Some instances of 
rashness in his conduct there undoubtedly are; he 
had been trained up with the military idea of honor, 
and a spirit naturally ardent at times betrayed him 
into haste and passion, from which, in later years, 
he was free. 

But, as Lord Mahon says, " All the stories of Hor- 
ace Walpole are to be received with great caution; 

162 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 163 

his " Reminiscences," above all, written in his do- 
tage, teem with the grossest inaccuracies and in- 
credible representations." It is not, therefore, neces- 
sary to say anything of his attacks on Oglethorpe, 
either in the way of defence or explanation. A 
man's character must be judged by the prevailing 
direction of his life; and no ridicule, or sneer can 
touch a reputation founded on lofty philanthropy 
and self-denying love of men, traits of character 
which Walpole was not able to understand. 

Some interesting particulars respecting General 
Oglethorpe may be gathered from those animated 
passages in the letters of Hannah More, in which 
she describes her impressions of those high circles 
of London society in which she was so great a favo- 
rite in her earlier days. In a letter to her sister, in 
1784, she says, "I have got a new admirer; it is 
General Oglethorpe, perhaps the most remarkable 
man of his time. He was foster-brother to the Pre- 
tender, and is much above ninety years old; the 
finest figure you ever saw. He perfectly realizes all 
my ideas of Nestor. His literature is great, his 
knowledge of the world extensive, and his faculties 
as bright as ever. He is one of the three persons, 
still living, who were mentioned by Pope; Lord 
Mansfield and Lord Marchmont are the other two. 
He was the intimate friend of Southern, the tragic 
poet, and of all the wits of that time. He is, per- 
haps, the oldest man, of a gentleman, living. I went 
to see him the other day, and he would have enter- 
tained me by repeating passages of Sir Eldred. He 
is quite a preux chevalier, heroic, romantic, and full 



1 64 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

of the old gallantry." In another letter she mentions 
having seen him at Mrs. Vesey's, where the Duchess 
of Portland and Mrs. Delany were present, and 
where, she says, " Mr. Burke talked a great deal of 
politics with General Oglethorpe. He told him, with 
great truth, that he looked on him as a more ex- 
traordinary person than any he had ever read of; 
for he had founded the province of Georgia, had 
absolutely called it into existence, and had lived to 
see it severed from the empire which created it, and 
become an independent State." The respect of 
Burke was an ample compensation for the contempt 
of Walpole, in their own age ; but half-a-century has 
brought with it an immense addition of authority to 
the compliment of the one, and taken all power to 
injure from the hatred and sarcasm of the other. 

The circumstance, however, which most interests 
an American reader, is the account of his visit to 
John Adams, when he first arrived in England, in 
the capacity of minister of the United States. It 
shows that the General always retained his interest 
in this country; and, though his associations and 
habits of thought were not such as to encourage 
great confidence in popular self-government, that he 
was ready to show his respect for those who had re- 
sisted what they thought oppression, and made a 
successful effort to be free. A day or two after Mr. 
Adams's arrival in London had been announced in 
the public prints, General Oglethorpe waited on him, 
as he said, " to pay his respects to the first American 
ambassador and his family, whom he was glad to see 
in England ; he expressed a great esteem and regard 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 165 

for America, and much regret at the misunderstand- 
ing between the countries, and felt very happy to 
have lived to see a termination of it." 

Fifty years had been sufficient to form and ripen 
the fruit which it commonly requires centuries to 
mature. In connection with this vast and rapid de- 
velopment of life and power, it is interesting to think 
of Wesley, whose active history began in Georgia, 
and not with the happiest promise of success; but 
his strong mind and heart, working with the energy 
of conviction and the inspiration of love, had not 
only gained him a hearing from those who at first 
turned contemptuously away, but also had deprived 
his early persecutors of the power, and even the wish 
to injure, by making it clear to them that his moving 
principle was regard for the souls of men. So high 
had his authority risen and his influence spread that, 
in this same year, he was sending over to America a 
commission to establish churches after his own heart, 
in which his own spirit should prevail, and his name 
be treasured with as much veneration as man should 
ever give to man. 

The public character of the subject of this memoir 
is sufficiently described in the account of his efforts 
and sacrifices for the welfare of others. From this 
it appears, that under those circumstances of pros- 
perity which commonly harden and narrow the heart, 
with those graces of person and advantages of birth 
and fortune which so often bring utter selfishness, 
he turned away from the attractions of pleasure to 
the service of his fellowmen, and particularly of 
those whom other Samaritans had passed by. His 



1 66 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

views for their benefit were large as well as gen- 
erous ; he aimed not merely to relieve their immediate 
suffering, but to replace them in the field of life, 
from which they had retreated in despair; having 
no doubt that, under a new social system, more lib- 
eral, impartial, and free from ancient abuses, they 
could recover their energy and become useful and 
happy men, forming a community, which should pre- 
sent an inspiring and encouraging example to the 
superannuated nations of the Old World. 

These views were such as only great minds origi- 
nate; and great hearts are required to apply them to 
action. That they were formed in his mind by its 
own power, and not by sympathy with others, is 
evident to every one who traces the story of their 
birth; and no one will think of denying that they 
were carried out with a disinterestedness which re- 
garded every sacrifice as easy, and every labor light ; 
and which did not even complain, when its good was 
evil spoken of, and repaid with injury and 
upbraiding. 

It does not always happen that they who are en- 
gaged in extensive plans of benevolence, are attentive 
also to the smaller charities of daily life, on which so 
much, both of happiness and character, depends. 
There have been some melancholy examples of in- 
consistency between the public and private life, even 
where there was no suspicion that the professed 
philanthropy was owing to thirst for applause. But 
in General Oglethorpe there was no such dispropor- 
tion. There is testimony to prove that his private 
benevolence was great. His tenants always found 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 1 6? 

in him an indulgent landlord and a faithful friend; 
far from oppressing them with exactions, he often 
supported a tenant whose situation was doubtful, not 
merely forbearing to require his rent, but lending 
him money to go on with his farm. 

Those small attentions to the interest and happi- 
ness of his friends, which imply a delicate humanity, 
that desire to shun the guilt of giving pain, and that 
ready sympathy with the joys and sorrows of others, 
which is found only in good hearts, were seen in the 
daily history of his life ; for, whether manifested in 
the form of charity, friendship, hospitality, and in 
all good feeling, his social kindness was always over- 
flowing; not limiting itself to the grateful and de- 
serving, but going forth warmly to every condition 
of humanity, and most familiarly present where evil 
could be resisted or any good be done. It was this 
which secured him the general respect and regard, 
and the strong attachment of a few friends would 
be enough, if necessary, to overbalance the censure 
of a thousand foes. 

The defects of General Oglethorpe's character 
were of the kind which are apt to be found in active 
and energetic men. There have been very few men 
distinguished in history in whom gentleness and 
force of character have been united ; they are not in- 
consistent with each other; indeed, they require to 
be united to form a finished character; but for the 
most part it is found that those who accomplish 
great things in the world are somewhat deficient in 
the graces and virtues which give a charm to private 
life. Educated in the army as he was, and of course 



168 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 

trained in the false ideas of honor which prevail 
there, he was somewhat jealous of the appearance of 
affront and wrong. This self-justifying illusion 
rather encouraged his natural haste of temper, which 
otherwise he might have taken pains to suppress. 
But, however quick to take offence, he was open to 
conviction, ready to confess his error, and earnest to 
make reparation for any injury he had done. 

An impression is sometimes given that he was 
vain of his exploits and services, and that he enjoyed 
being the hero of his own tale. It appears to be 
mere matter of inference; it is not easy to find any 
authority for charging him with such folly ; it is only 
presumed that one who had lived to extreme old age, 
after bearing a distinguished part in the field of life, 
would naturally fall into the habit of fighting his 
battles over again, and giving the chronicle of his 
own deeds. But it might rather be presumed that a 
finished gentleman, whose company was universally 
sought in circles which are not usually tolerant to 
such infirmity, had escaped the tendency to self- 
exaltation which often comes with age. The com- 
plaint which Dr. Johnson made of his conversation, 
that he did not finish what he had to say, indicates 
deficiency, rather than excess; it would hardly have 
been said of one who delighted to talk much of him- 
self and his own deeds. 

The truth is, that his mind, as well as his body, 
was exempt from the usual decline of age. His 
habits of temperance and activity saved him from 
bodily disease, so that his form, which was always 
remarkable for dignified grace, remained unbent by 



JAMES OGLETHORPE 169 

the weight of more than ninety years. His senses 
were almost unimpaired; even his sight remained 
perfect to the last. By following a rigid system of 
self-resistance, he kept the elasticity of his mind; 
never suffering it to become stagnant, as many do, 
and thus bringing on themselves premature and 
needless decay. He maintained an interest in what 
was passing around him; he did not withdraw his 
concern from public affairs when time obliged him 
to resign them to other hands ; if one set of cares and 
duties were no longer in his reach, he found others 
to engage his attention ; and by this wise and faith- 
ful determination, sustained by great firmness of 
purpose, he was able to preserve his activity and 
happiness at the age when most men are either in 
helpless decay or in the grave. 

Concerning the death of General Oglethorpe, no 
particulars are recorded. It was not owing, as might 
have been expected, to the decay of nature. He was 
seized with a violent fever, of which he died, after a 
short illness, on the 30th of June, 1785, leaving a 
memory which will be more honored in coming gen- 
erations than in that which immediately followed 
his own. 



LRd! 



1 



